Japan Wind Development's 51MW wind farm in Aomori prefecture, in northern Japan's Tohoku region. Last week, utility Tohoku Electric said it may follow Kyushu Electric in suspending grid-access applications for new renewable-energy projects.

Kyushu halt leaves 5.4GW in lurch

As much as 5.4GW of approved renewables capacity may go unbuilt on the southwestern Japanese island of Kyushu due to a grid-access suspension that Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) says could remain in place until early 2015.

29 September 2014 8:27 GMT Updated 27 September 2016 5:49 GMT

By Brian Publicover in Tokyo

Last week, regional utility Kyushu Electric Power revealed plans to temporarily stop reviewing grid-access applications from developers of solar, wind, geothermal, hydroelectric and biomass projects until it can determine how much more capacity it can integrate into its network.

BNEF expects the suspension to potentially remain in place until the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) finishes its annual review of the nation’s feed-in tariff (FIT) scheme by the end of March 2015.

Recharge is part of DN Media Group. To read more about DN Media Group, click here

Solar

Kyushu halt leaves 5.4GW in lurch