Japan Govt Adopts Measures to Curb Mega Solar Power Plant Projects Amid Environmental Concerns

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:40 JST, December 25, 2025

The government has adopted a package of about 20 measures related to curbing mega solar power development projects to address concerns about environmental damage and potential disaster risks.

The measures, which were adopted on Tuesday at a meeting of relevant Cabinet members, include amending relevant legislation, bolstering monitoring systems and abolishing support for new large-scale solar power plants.

As part of measures to strengthen legal regulations, the government will lower the minimum 30,000-kilowatt threshold for mandatory environmental assessments, while also looking into expanding the scope of the inspections.

The government will also create a mechanism in which a government-certified organization will verify in advance if planned solar power plants comply with relevant technical standards. To make this requirement mandatory for the operators of solar power plants with an output of 10 kilowatts or more, the government aims to submit a bill to amend the Electricity Business Law during the ordinary Diet session next year.

The package also includes expanding restricted areas in the Hokkaido’s Kushiro Shitsugen National Park, the Japan’s largest wetland and surrounding hills, and reviewing the applications of the Protection of Cultural Properties Law, the Landscape Law and other relevant laws.

Starting in fiscal 2027, mega solar power plants with an output of 1,000 kilowatts or more will become ineligible for the feed-in premium program, a support system in which producers receive a fixed premium on top of the market price for electricity generated. On the other hand, the government will increase incentives for developing or introducing next-generation perovskite solar cells and rooftop solar systems, as they have a smaller environmental impact.

After the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, mega solar power plants were built one after another across the country. In fiscal 2012, the administration led by the then Democratic Party of Japan introduced a support system in which power companies purchased electricity generated by renewable energy producers at higher than market price as part of efforts to promote renewable energy.

However, now that solar power generation has grown to account for about 10% of the overall electricity output in the country, the government decided to review the support system, and concluded that it has already to some extent played its role in expanding renewable energy usage.