Japan proposes four categories for priority commercial solar support

Japan’s Agency for Natural Resources and Energy (ANRE) has proposed keeping feed-in support for commercial solar on land owned by national or local governments, in projects approved under municipal decarbonization plans, on solar carports, and in infrastructure such as airports, roads, railways, and ports.

ANRE presented the proposal in late September to a government renewable energy panel that reports to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI).

New ground-mounted commercial solar will lose FIT and FIP support from April 1, 2027, under rules Japan promulgated at the end of the 2025 fiscal year. The cut follows a package of measures on large-scale solar plants approved by Cabinet ministers in December 2025 and recommendations from the Procurement Price Calculation Committee in February. Rooftop solar already receives preferential treatment, and the agency is now selecting which other commercial categories should keep support.

The agency assessed 10 candidate categories put forward by ministries, local governments, and industry groups including the Japan Photovoltaic Energy Association (JPEA). It applied three tests covering importance for future deployment, compatibility with local communities, and suitability for the FIT and FIP schemes. The deployment test draws on potential estimates and Japan’s Seventh Strategic Energy Plan, while the scheme test requires a category that can be defined objectively through documents and is expected to export power to the grid.

To pass the community test, a project must either involve no new land development or major change in land use, or be overseen by national or local government for its full operating life, with the power to correct problems.

Conditions attached

Public land qualifies only when the government leases it out or runs the project itself. Land sold to developers would not qualify, because oversight could lapse. Ponds owned by neighborhood associations are excluded, as they do not pass through approval by a mayor or local assembly.

Projects inside municipal renewable promotion zones qualify only if they hold an approved regional decarbonization promotion project plan under the Act on Promotion of Global Warming Countermeasures. Location in a zone alone is not enough. Projects with approved facility plans under Japan’s law on renewable energy in agricultural, forestry, and fishing areas would be treated the same way.

For solar carports, the agency asked the subcommittee whether support could encourage construction of new standalone parking lots, such as monthly or coin-operated lots. Infrastructure covers airports, roads, railways, and ports. Urban parks are excluded because ground-mounted panels are not expected there.

Excluded categories

The agency proposed no priority support for industrial parks and commercial sites, saying the categories lack a uniform definition and offer no guarantee that existing land use would continue. It also excluded former golf courses, former ski resorts, and abandoned farmland, citing the tree felling, topsoil removal, and grading that projects on such land can involve. Projects defined by supplying local utilities, municipalities, or emergency power during disasters were also excluded, because those benefits cannot be verified objectively and do not by themselves prevent safety, landscape, or environmental problems.

The agency deferred a decision on agrivoltaics. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries is preparing rules defining “desirable” agrivoltaic projects, including shading below 30%, ground clearance of at least 3 meters, and support spacing of at least 4 meters. The agency proposed giving priority to implementing those rules and continuing to consider agrivoltaics in the next fiscal year.

The 30% shading cap has drawn criticism. In August, the Japan Renewable Energy Foundation (JREF) called on the agriculture ministry to review the threshold, citing farms that kept more than 80% of their yields at shading rates above 30%. Japan had approved 6,137 agrivoltaic sites covering 1,361.6 hectares of farmland by the end of fiscal 2023, according to the ministry.

The proposals still require detailed design. Certification criteria, the split between FIT and FIP, auction rules, and support prices and periods will go to the subcommittee and the Procurement Price Calculation Committee between October and January, according to a schedule the agency set out in June. Public comment on the revised ordinances is planned for February and March 2027, with the changes taking effect on April 1, 2027.

Agency estimates put FIT- and FIP-supported capacity at 54.6 GW for ground-mounted commercial solar and 6.1 GW for commercial rooftop, derived by applying the ground-mounted and rooftop split for projects certified since 2017 to total commercial capacity, alongside 17.3 GW for residential systems. A study cited by the agency, led by the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan, puts remaining potential at 137.2 GW for commercial rooftops and 20 GW to 107 GW for ground-mounted sites.