Last year, Aomori Prefecture’s incoming governor announced one of the most audacious plans for a regional tax on renewable energy projects in Japan, vowing to bring in a levy that would apply even to existing solar and wind farms. A year on, the prefecture’s strategy for the renewables sector looks quite different.

This month, a panel of experts employed by the prefecture published a skeleton draft of an ordinance that would see the local authorities assume greater control over solar and onshore wind projects. Specifically, the proposal targets operators with solar projects of over 2 MW in capacity (and 3 ha in size) and wind farms sized 500 kW and above. 

The panel recommended that the prefecture use zoning rules, and placed an emphasis on installing an official community consultation procedure. The panel provided no details of a possible future tax.

After the rapid introduction of, in particular, solar power capacity in the last ten years or so, Japan has seen a slowdown in the rollout of new renewables facilities. Rising costs and dropping state tariffs for new projects were among the major factors, but a public backlash against new solar and wind farms in some communities has also been a serious issue in recent years. That has emboldened some municipalities, and even regional governments, to introduce new taxes or regulations to more closely control new developments. 

In April, Miyagi became the first prefecture in Japan to introduce an ordinance that effectively taxes owners of new solar, wind or biomass generation facilities that cut down a certain level of forest cover to build the project. And so it was feared that Aomori would follow with an even more expansive tax plan ….