Guest Forum: Trends Changes in Energy Technology

* National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)

Total energy consumption in Japan has gradually decreased since 2000; compared to the decrease of energy consumption in the manufacturing industry sector, the decrease in the consumer and transport sector is small. On the other hand, total CO2 emission has not been as small as the energy consumption decline. It is, thus, important to increase the proportion of renewable energy, such as solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind power. In 2012, Feed-in Tariff (FIT) policy for renewable energy was enacted in Japan, and then increase rate of the cumulative capacity of solar PV has been remarkably high. Energy storage technologies for renewable energy will be reviewed.