Bioenergy, covers various types of fuel and a diverse range of technical applications, among which woody biomass holds an important position. In Europe and other countries, woody biomass is basically used to generate heat, and when used to generate electricity, combined heat and power (CHP) technology or co-generation, is applied to make the most of the waste heat for better total energy efficiency.

However, Japan has a Feed-in Tariff (FiT) scheme that is not designed to induce suppliers to adopt CHP. Under the current scheme, support is provided even to coal-fired co-firing power plants and the construction of large-scale biomass power plants have been announced with the rapid growth of approved capacities. As a result, great strain is placed on the supply-demand balance both for domestic and imported woody biomass, and the fuel price is expected to remain high. There are also concerns whether they fulfill sustainability standards. In addition, efforts to develop efficient bioenergy generation operating on CHP in Japan may be hindered by the limited supply of fuel, which existing users buy up.

This report compares the current situation in Japan and the experiences of European countries, which are moving ahead of us in woody biomass use, to make clear challenges we must address, and offers policy recommendations for a better FiT scheme and related measures in order to realize sustainable use of bioenergy in Japan.

Download	Recommendations for Woody Biomass Power Generation under FiT (1.3MB)

Four Recommendations for Japan's FiT scheme:

1. Introduce a new FiT category for large-scale bioenergy plants with a lower purchasing rate
2. Reform the support mechanism for co-firing on the assumption that coal-fired power plants should be phased out
3. Conduct risk analyses regarding sustainability
4. Work to increase and promote CHP projects

View full report in Japanese

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