Insights & Analysis
A straight-to-the-point monthly summary of important regulatory discussions and changes in Japan's power market.
In the September 2026 issue:
- Summary of METI, OCCTO, and other committee meetings
- Proposed non-rooftop solar FIT/FIP support
- Instruments qualifying for advance energy procurement requirement
- Continued mid- to long-term market design discussions
- METI power business license and registration changes
- Nuclear power plant operational status updates
- ...and more
The next issue will be released on November 16, 2026.
Enehub Charts of the Week
Hokkaido day-ahead prices stayed at or above ¥50/kWh for 14 consecutive half-hour slots from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday, October 10, 2026. Between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m., they reached ¥100.00, marking the highest weekend price in any area since January 2021 and double the previous weekend high for a single area split off from the rest of the grid. Interconnector constraints, thermal power plant outages, and low wind generation likely contributed to the spike.
Unusually rainy weather cut solar generation in Japan by 26.7% year on year in September 2026. With central Tokyo seeing rain on every day of the month for the first time in recorded history, the wider Tokyo TSO area saw, at 45.6%, the largest drop nationwide. Hokkaido was the only area to see an increase compared with September 2025, albeit a small one.
The price of non-FIT NFCs in a fiscal year’s first-round auction neared the ¥1.3/kWh ceiling for the first time. While non-FIT renewable NFCs traded at ¥1.21/kWh in FY2026’s first auction, non-FIT non-renewable NFCs cleared at ¥1.20/kWh. Buy bids reached 12.26TWh for non-FIT renewable NFCs, more than six times the 1.98TWh offered. For non-FIT non-renewable NFCs, the oversubscription was even more pronounced with the 11.15TWh worth of bids exceeding more than 50 times the 200GWh available.
