Publication date: Jan 26, 2026 Government Unveils Selection Timeline for GX Strategic Area DC Clusters While there are financial support measures for data center (DC) operators (as we covered in our previous newsletter), the government also plans to subsidize municipalities that host DC clusters, each on a gigawatt scale, to accommodate the rapidly increasing DC …
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Publication date: Jan 20, 2026 Data Center Market Update 1: Wind Power, and On-Site Gas-Fired DCs Toyota Tsusho and its renewable energy subsidiary, Eurus Energy Holdings, announced they will develop Soya Green Data Center I (tentative name), a 3 MW data center in Wakkanai, Hokkaido, adjacent to the Kabakaoka Wind Farm. This DC is scheduled …
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Publication date: Jan 18, 2026 Japan to Subsidize Up to 50% of Investment in 100% Decarbonized Data Centers Domestic data center (DC) electricity demand is growing rapidly and is expected to increase by more than 5 GW to a total of 6.16 GW over the next decade (CAS 1), and according to Japan Electronics and …
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Publication date: Jan 12, 2026 METI Shifts Toward Stricter Screening of BESS Grid Connection Applications The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) is accelerating discussions on tightening grid access rules and procedures for power generation facilities, particularly measures to prevent so-called “speculative reservations” of grid capacity by grid-scale #BESS projects. As of the end …
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Publication date: Dec 30, 2025 Government Sets Upper and Lower Price Limits for FY2026 GX-ETS The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI)’s expert meeting discussed the upper and lower price limits for FY2026 emissions allowances and obtained approval from its members, completing discussions on the core pillars of the GX-ETS (Emissions Trading System). After …
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Publication date: Dec 22, 2025 Year in review 2025 (Dec 2025) Policy Proposed advanced procurement and Mid-Long Term Market to reshape retailer risk In July, METI’s Working Group proposed a new requirement for electricity retailers to secure a certain proportion of their future electricity supply volume (in kWh) in advance, with the aim of stabilizing …
Publication date: Dec 21, 2025 PowerX to List on TSE Growth Market as Domestic BESS Market Expands PowerX has received approval from the Tokyo Stock Exchange and will list on the TSE Growth Market on December 19. Founded in March 2021, the company manufactures and sells large-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS) for grid-scale and …
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Publication date: Dec 17, 2025 Japan’s BESS Moment: Strategic Opportunity or Speculative Trap? Why international developers need more than optimism to navigate Japan’s battery storage gold rush. — Professor Hiroshi Takahashi of Hosei University recently made a compelling case in Nikkei GX for Japan to formally integrate battery energy storage system (BESS) capacity targets into …
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Publication date: Dec 15, 2025 Tightening Balancing Market Design Could Reshape BESS Strategies At a recent expert meeting held in late October 2025, METI proposed two changes for Primary Reserve (FCR) and Secondary Reserve I (S-FRR) in the balancing market: 1. Reducing the procurement volumes by 50–80%starting from FY2026. 2. Lowering the price caps by …
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Publication date: Dec 9, 2025 Prices Hit Cap in Second FY2025 NFC Auction as Non-FIT Volumes Rise The Japan Electric Power Exchange (JEPX) has released the results of the second-round of the Non-Fossil Value Trading Market (or Non-Fossil Certificate (NFC) Auction) for FY2025. Prices for Non-FIT (Feed-in-Tariff) NFCs, both certificates “without renewable energy designation”, mainly …
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