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Abstract: Japan started implementing a national Feed-In Tariff (FiT) mechanism on the 1st July 2012, which included specific payment tariffs for solar photovoltaic (PV) installations. This marks a new era in the renewable energy landscape in Japan. This paper aims at analysing the solar PV prospect in Japan, particularly in both residential and non-residential sectors. The paper presents, first, an overview of energy trends in Japan prior to the Fukushima event. This is followed by a short review of solar PV progress in the country, highlighting the major policies and programmes that have been implemented as well as the installations that have been carried out over the past two decades. Next, the financial impact of the new FiT scheme on consumers is evaluated. The financial analysis investigates the total profit, the average annual return on investment and the payback period. For a comparison purposes, a similar financial analysis is also conducted with selected countries around the world – namely Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom. The results from this analysis indicate that the new Japanese FiT rate generates a good profit, a moderate annual return on investment and an acceptable payback period, suggesting an increasing trend of solar PV uptake over the next years. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper focuses on the critical actors (herein called Driving Actors) and their activities to promote sustainable energy policies and businesses in cases where renewable energy facilities are gradually installed in a local area by changes in lifestyle from one based on fossil fuels to a sustainable one. This paper aims to 1) evaluate activity to promote renewable energy in local community using analytical approaches as an iterative approach and stakeholder analysis, and 2) to propose an analytical framework for the RE implementation process and to describe the important roles of the Driving Actors. We investigated the case of Bizen city in Japan by participant observations. Consequently, Driving Actors are responsible for encouraging RE implementation in the local area. They coordinate and run the RE (Renewable Energy) program to gain experience and know-how as well as create a business scheme, which has business risk due to the absence of effective policies by the national government during the middle phase to promote local success of RE. If the national government implements effective policies to disseminate RE facilities during the middle phase, then the Takeoff phase is ascertained and existing big companies and financial organizations would begin to participate RE businesses. On the other hand, if the national government does not change its policy, Driving Actors must initiate a creative RE project using their expertise in the middle phase. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]