Japan’s 18th solar auction concludes with lowest bid of $0.053/kWh

Japan's Green Investment Promotion Organization has released the final results of the latest auction for utility-scale solar energy projects.

The state-run agency said that 105 MW of PV projects were selected in the procurement exercise.

It was Japan's eighteenth auction for utility-scale solar and was expected to assign 177.7 MW of generating capacity.

The 33 selected projects range in size from 500 kW to 25.8 MW.

The lowest bid was JPY 7.94 ($0.053)/kWh/kWh, the highest was JPY 9.19/kWh, and the average final price was JPY 8.55/kWh. The ceiling price was set at JPY 9.35/kWh.

In the previous auction finalized in late August, the lowest price came in at JPY 8.95 ($0.061)/kWh, with 69 MW of allocated capacity.

In the 16th auction held in July, the allocated power was 119.7 MW and the lowest bid came in at JPY 9/kWh.

In the 15th solar energy auction, which concluded in March, the Green Investment Promotion Organization only allocated 16.2 MW of the 175 MW tendered. The lowest bid offered in the auction was JPY 9.48/kWh and the average final price was JPY 9.56.

In the 14th exercise, held in November 2022, the Japanese authorities assigned 137.2 MW of PV capacity, out of 175 MW tendered. The lowest bid came in at JPY 9.65/kWh and the average final price was JPY 9.73/kWh.

In the 12th procurement exercise, which was finalized in June 2022, the assigned PV capacity was 153.7 MW. The lowest bid came in at JPY 8.85/kWh. In the 11th auction, held in March 2022, the assigned PV power was 268.7 MW and the lowest bid was JPY 8.99/kWh.

In 2021, the Japanese government allocated 675 MW of PV capacity across three different auctions. In previous auctions, it allocated 942 MW.