Insights & Analysis
A straight-to-the-point monthly summary of important regulatory discussions and changes in Japan's power market.
In the July 2026 issue:
- Summary of METI, OCCTO, and other committee meetings
- Pumped hydro bilateral contracts in FY2026
- FY206 long-term decarbonization auction discussions
- 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 August 17, 2026.
Enehub Charts of the Week
While new solar development in Japan has slowed in recent years, the sector reached a new milestone in 2025, with generation across the nine mainland areas exceeding 11% of 365-day rolling demand for the first time.
Tohoku EPCO has been unlocking additional capacity at its dam-based hydropower plants by adjusting water throughput, allowing it to increase output without CAPEX-heavy equipment upgrades. It applied the approach at five assets to date.
With Japan’s operational grid-scale battery storage capacity still limited, the balancing market remains a major revenue source. Unlike energy arbitrage, it does not require full charge–discharge cycles to build trading volume and generate revenue, allowing owners to operate below 0.5 cycles per day on average. Below are the average daily cycles for three of the country’s largest operational assets with available data.
