With US oil prices having gone negative for the first time in history this past Monday, it’s doubtful that there’s anyone left who hasn’t noticed the impact that COVID-19 is having on global energy markets. Such attention-grabbing headlines should not, however, distract us from the multitude of other ways that the pandemic is affecting energy …
Continue reading “COVID-19 Exposes Vulnerabilities in Japan’s Electricity Generation”
Last month marked half a century since the first light-water nuclear reactor entered into service in Japan. Since then, nuclear power in Japan has gone through major ups and downs, from growing in popularity in the 1970s all the way to existential concerns about the future of Japanese electricity generation in the post-Fukushima era. In …
Continue reading “50 Years of Nuclear Power Generation in Japan”
On March 24, 2020, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach officially announced the postponement of the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 to next year. With the postponement pushing the Games into the background, the actual state of the coronavirus outbreak here in Japan has started to dominate the …
Continue reading “COVID-19, Tokyo Olympics 2020, and Energy”
In today’s post, we will discuss perhaps the biggest driver of the direction of Japan’s energy industry—the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI)—and why it’s so important to keep an eye on what it is up to. The Dual Role of METI METI is the home of the policy planning divisions and regulatory agencies …
Continue reading “METI Influence on the Direction of Japan’s Energy Sector”
Historic factors and the fact that Japan is an archipelago consisting of four main islands and hundreds of smaller ones have contributed to what has become an unusual power grid considerably different from other developed countries. Not only is the country’s grid divided into ten physically separate zones, but it’s also divided into two areas …
Continue reading “Everything You Need to Know about the Japanese Electricity Grid”
With an imperial transition from Emperor Akihito to Emperor Naruhito, preparations for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics being fully underway, and a number of violent typhoons hitting the country, 2019 has been a busy year for Japan overall. Causing long-lasting power outages, it is the last of those – combined with several important changes in the …
