Japan adds to biomass power capacity over Jan-Mar

Japan's biomass-fired power capacity under the feed-in-tariff (FiT) and feed-in-premium (FiP) schemes rose during January-March this year.

Japan added 167MW over the quarter, lifting total commercial capacity under the FiT and FiP schemes to 6,454MW, according to trade and industry ministry data. The capacity additions during January-March were lower than 489MW a year earlier but higher than 60MW during October-December 2023.

Installed capacity fed by general wood biomass and crop residue totalled 3,875MW at the end of March, up by 11pc from the end of March 2023. Capacity firing with unused woody biomass rose by 8pc from the previous year to 544MW, while methane gas fermentation climbed by 12pc to 99MW. Capacity fed by general waste increased by 22pc to 564MW, with construction waste up by 59pc to 135MW.

Japan's operational biomass-fired power capacity totalled 7,328MW by the end of March, including 874MW that was installed before FiT was introduced in July 2012 but not transferred to receive support from the scheme. This capacity accounts for 92pc of Japan's biomass power target of 8,000MW by the April 2030-March 2031 fiscal year.

Total purchase costs for biomass power supplies under the FiT scheme reached ¥3.93 trillion ($26.9bn) for 150.7TWh from July 2012 to March 2024.

By Takeshi Maeda