In contrast with the fiscal year’s first three auctions, where over 20 smaller projects were awarded in each round, just five mega solar projects covered all 93MW OCCTO sought to award in Japan’s 23rd (this year’s fourth) solar auction.
The projects, ranging from 7.69MWAC to 29.91MWAC, secured feed-in-premium (FIP) prices between 4.47 and 6.98 yen per kWh. At average of 5.06 yen per kWh, the prices were considerably lower than the 8.98 yen per kWh ceiling.
HEP Global-associated special purpose company (SPC) HEP SPV 16 Japan was awarded the largest project at 5 yen per kWh. The same project appears to have been awarded the same 5 yen per kWh FIP in FY2023’s fourth round, suggesting it was not certified at the time or had its certification canceled.
Manago Solar LLC and Nemuro Nishihama Solar LLC were awarded a 29.9MWAC and 16MWAC project, respectively.
Nemuro Nishihama Solar LLC was previously known as Yotsuya Capital Solar 1 LLC, though it is unclear whether Yotsuya Capital sold the project or simply renamed the SPC. Given the identical bid price (4.47 yen per kWh) and a shared representative, the two SPCs are likely affiliated with the same developer.
The remaining two projects were sub-10MW. ENEOS Renewable Energy was awarded a 9.5MWAC one at 6.5 yen per kWh and Shizen Energy a 7.69MWAC one at 6.98 yen per kWh.
The five winning projects were selected from a total of 43 projects with a combined output of 144MWAC, making this the first oversubscribed round since this fiscal year’s first round. Unlike the earlier rounds this year, which were dominated by high-voltage, sub-2MWAC projects, this round was also the first one since FY2023’s fourth round to have a 20MWAC+ project awarded.
Winners will need to pay a deposit by March 21, 2025, and get their projects FIP-certified by October 8, 2025.
The next solar auction, the first round of FY2025, is expected to be held in April and May 2025. Citing this year’s second and third rounds’ undersubscription, METI decided to cut next year’s first round’s procurement target to 79MW.
