Japan

EODev will start delivering hydrogen generators by the end of 2024 to countries in the West and the Middle East, with a focus on regions with public incentive policies. German companies, meanwhile, have agreed to convert a gas pipeline network into a hydrogen pipeline network.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly has approved new provisions to make solar installations mandatory for new homes. The rules apply to homes with total rooftop areas of more than 20 square meters, and to buildings with rooftops smaller than 2,000 square meters.

Japanese scientists have developed a heterojunction germanium solar cell with the biggest area ever achieved for the tech. It has an open-circuit voltage of 291 mV, a short-circuit current of 45.0 mA/cm2, and a fill factor of 0.656.

Tokyu Land and Dutch offshore PV specialist SolarDuck are set to develop a floating solar project in the Tokyo Bay area.

A unit of Japan’s Itochu will sell power from 700 solar facilities to a subsidiary of telecoms giant NTT under a 30-year power purchase agreement. Goldman Sachs is supporting the deal with a first-of-its-kind green bond.

The Japanese solar market reached a cumulative installed PV capacity of 78.4 GW at the end of 2021, according to a new report from IEA-PVPS. Japanese analyst Izumi Kaizuka told pv magazine that the country could annually install up 6 GW of new solar in both 2022 and 2023.

The Tokyo municipal authorities are working on new regulations to make solar installations mandatory for new homes with total rooftop areas of more than 20 square meters, and for buildings with rooftops smaller than 2,000 square meters.

Panasonic claims that its new vehicle-to-home system can increase the self-consumption rate of residential solar and storage capacity to 90%.

Th International Energy Agency (IEA) says unsubsidized heat pumps are already competitive with gas boilers in mature markets like the United States, Canada, Japan, Italy, and China. It says global sales will soar to record levels by 2030.

Japan’s Itochu has announced a new tie-up with France’s Rosi Solar, which develops tech to recover and recycle high-purity silver, copper and silicon from solar modules.