Japan's wind capacity records slowest growth in 10 years

Japan's wind power capacity rose 11.7 percent in the year to March 2011as the country was set to launch a new subsidy system to lure investors to the sector.

This is the slowest growth pace for the sectgor in at least 10 years, according to data by a government-backed agency, New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization.

Wind turbine capacity totalled 2,442 megawatts as of March last year. In 2009/2010, capacity increased by 16.1 percent to 2,186 MW.

The next slowest pace in the past decade was marked in 2007/2008 of 12.3 percent, when tighter building regulations following a scandal in 2005 over falsified engineering data for apartment blocks delayed the construction of wind farms.

Japan is overhauling its energy policy after the Fukushima crisis shattered public confidence in the safety of nuclear power, on which it had previously planned to rely on for over 50 percent of electricity demand by 2030.

To accelerate the growth of renewable energy sources, parliament last year approved bills, effective in July 2012, requiring utilities to buy all electricity output from solar, wind and other renewable power plants at preset rates in a so-called feed-in tariff scheme.