We’ve just published a report that details how Japan’s post-nuclear electricity-generation economy can be viably retooled around renewable energy. Our report—“Japan: Greater Energy Security Through Renewables: Electricity Transformation in a Post-Nuclear Economy”—emphasizes the potential for national energy security through renewables, most especially wind and solar. This report documents how government policies adopted in the wake of the Fukushima disaster in 2011 have favored replacement of nuclear baseload with fossil fuel baseload—a strategy that has proven costly and resulted in lost opportunities in the development of increasingly available renewable energy. At stake in Japan’s energy transition are issues that transcend economics. Indeed Japan’s very energy security is at risk. Before the Fukushima disaster of 2011, Japan had enough nuclear fuel to ensure nuclear power played an important role in long-term domestic production of electricity. Since Fukushima and the shutdown of the Japanese nuclear industry, the country has become deeply reliant on fossil fuel imports, a perilous position that leaves it at the mercy of foreign markets and geopolitical upheaval.
Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis 21st March 2017 read more »