Japan

Japan marked the first year-on-year decline in two months after power demand fell 0.3 percent in September from a year earlier.

With emphasis on rooftop projects, Gestamp Solar intends to develop 300MW of solar power projects in Japan over three years.

Japan’s Sumitomo Group has bought a fourth of the 550 megawatt Desert Sunlight Solar Farm, now under construction in the Mojave Desert in southern California.

Sumitomo will add wind farms and at least two biomass plants to take advantage of the market rates for electricity from renewable sources the government introduced in July.

New education and science minister Makiko Tanaka questioned the phasing out nuclear power generation by the 2030s without terminating the long-standing policy to recycle spent fuel.

NexPower Technology will provide 2MW of its Xtreme+ Series modules for various projects in western Japan.

Japan's Chubu Electric Power is intensifying its drive to secure cheap and stable supplies of liquefied natural gas from the United States.

J-Power could become the first Japanese utility construct a nuclear power plant since the Fukushima crisis.

Japan's new renewable energy program has already exceeded its fiscal 2012 target by more than 50 percent.

Intense lobbying by the nuclear power industry and its allies has saved the Monju fast-breeder reactor from the scrap heap.

Fukuoka Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in southwestern Japan will lease roof space in its school buildings and other public buildings to solar panels to take advantage of the new Feed-in Tariff for renewable energy.

Kyocera Corp. will provide 30MW solar panels to Eurus Energy Holdings to be used for a solar power plant in Hokkaido.

Nuclear Regulation Authority, Japan's new nuclear watchdog, plans to create fresh criteria for restarting nuclear reactors, according to its chief, Shunichi Tanaka.

Komatsu will spend ¥58 billion to scrap aging facilities and become more energy-efficient.

Sharp Corp. plans to scale down its domestic and overseas solar cell and power generation operations, except for cell production at its plant in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture.

Sharp Corp. plans to substantially reduce its domestic and overseas solar power operations to help revamp its