TOKYO: Japan wants renewable energy to account for up to 50 per cent of its electricity mix by fiscal year 2040 with nuclear power taking up another 20 per cent, according to a draft of its revised basic energy policy, as it makes a clean energy push while meeting rising power demand.
As the world’s second-largest importer of liquefied natural gas and a major consumer of Middle Eastern oil, Japan and its basic energy plans are drawing global attention from oil, gas and coal producers.
Thermal power usage, particularly from inefficient coal-fired power plants, is set to decrease to between 30 per cent and 40 per cent by 2040 from 68.6 per cent in 2023, although the draft energy policy does not specify the breakdown of coal, gas and oil.
“It is necessary to utilise LNG-fired power as a realistic means of transition, and the government and the private sector must jointly secure the necessary long-term LNG contracts in preparation for risks such as price hikes and supply disruptions,” the draft said.
The industry ministry’s policy draft unveiled on Tuesday proposes increasing renewables to between 40 per cent and 50 per cent of power supplies in the 2040 fiscal year, roughly doubling the 22.9 per cent share in the 2023 fiscal year and exceeding the 2030 target of between 36 per cent and 38 per cent.
Japan’s 2040 nuclear power target is in line with the 2030 target of between 20 per cent and 22 per cent, despite the challenges faced by the industry after the 2011 Fukushima disaster. Nuclear power accounted for 8.5 per cent of the country’s power supply in 2023.
The new energy plan removes the previous target of “reducing reliance on nuclear power as much as possible” and includes plans to build innovative next-generation reactors at nuclear power sites owned by operators who have decided to decommission existing reactors.
While the previous energy plan’s primary focus was on decarbonisation, heightened geopolitical risks, including the Russia-Ukraine war, have shifted greater attention to energy security.
The 2040 forecasts assume an increase in electricity demand of between 12 per cent and 22 per cent from 2023 levels. All targets are provisional.
Although the existing energy plan to 2030 aims for new fuels such as hydrogen and ammonia to comprise about 1 per cent of the electricity mix, the updated plan omits specific targets for these fuels.
A joint meeting of the industry and environment ministries last month unveiled a draft strategy that calls for a 60 per cent cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2035 and a 73 per cent cut by 2040 as a “linear pathway” to net zero by 2050.
A finalised version of the plan will be submitted to the United Nations in February.
