The project, located in Suzuhari City within Hiroshima prefecture, is slated to be operational by 2021. A power purchase agreement will be entered into with Chugoku Power Electric Company at a rate of JPY17.97 ($0.16) per kWh, said Canadian Solar.
The results of the auction, which awarded 141.3 MW worth of projects, were announced at the end of November. At the time, local media reported that the lowest successful bid was roughly 28% lower than the feed-in tariff (FIT) rate of JPY 24 (around US$0.214). According to Canadian Solar today, average prices were JPY 19.6 ($0.18) per kWh.
Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has announced plans for a second and third auction next July, and in late 2018, respectively.
Bloomberg New Energy Finance recently downgraded its 2017 solar PV installation forecasts for Japan, from 6.3 GW to 5.8 GW, as approvals for utility-scale projects are said to be slightly down. It will still be the fourth biggest solar market, behind China, the U.S. and India. Last year, the country installed 9.17 GW.
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