Since Feed-in Tariff (FIT) started in July 2012 in Japan, photovoltaic power plants have been rapidly increasing throughout the country. One problem of photovoltaic power plants is “non-installed (non-operated) power plants,” which exist even long after certifications from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) have been obtained. This study investigated which location factors are associated with certification and non-operation of photovoltaic power plants, analyzing the location factors (including ordinances, regulations requiring briefings for residents, and social, environmental, and economic factors) of photovoltaic power plants in the Kyushu Electric Power jurisdiction when they obtained certification and started operation.
The study analyzed 68,682 pieces of certified site data and 233 pieces of municipality data regarding the number of installed photovoltaic power plants in the Kyushu Electric Power jurisdiction, which are provided on the METI website. This study categorized the photovoltaic power plants by voltage class: low, high, and special-high voltage. First, this study applied a Poisson regression model for the number of certified sites by municipality in order to analyze the factor of certifications. Second, this study applied a logistic regression model for logarithm of ratio of operated sites to non-operated sites in order to analyze the factor of installation.
There were five factors related to certified sites in all voltage classes. Firstly, the number of workers in the secondary industry was related to easier circumstances in obtaining certifications. The average temperature, average solar radiation and the land use of forest were related to the site characteristics of photovoltaic power plants. The last factor was the distance from transmission lines. A farther distance is associated with a higher construction cost for photovoltaic power plants. Although municipalities that have enacted the regulations requesting briefings for residents tended to see a decreased number of certified sites in the high voltage class, there were no such trends in the low and special-high voltage classes.
On the other hand, an important factor of installed sites across all voltage classes was the number of certified sites in the area. In the low voltage class, non-operated sites tended to be located in municipalities with more certified sites that are farther from transmission lines, have a higher percentage of local operators in the Kyusyu area and workers in primary industries, have more land use of forest, and have regulations that request briefings for residents. In the high voltage class, more certified sites and a higher percentage of workers in secondary industries were related to more installation, though there was no factor related to non-operation. In the special high voltage class, non-operated sites tended to be located in municipalities that had more certified sites and that had enacted or revised ordinances after 2014. This study clarified that municipalities’ ordinances so far have not had as much of an effect as regulations in the certification stage, although they have affected the installation stage after sites have obtained certifications. In the future, ordinances for photovoltaic power plants are expected to affect the certification stage but not in the installation stage. Municipalities should support local operators that are expected to operate power plants for a long period.
Municipalities should restrict or promote photovoltaic power plants while protecting nature and landscape with urban planning. This study concludes that certifications and installations of photovoltaic power plants are related to their location factors.
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