Japan Narrows Solar Subsidies to Rooftops, Carports and Public Land
Japan’s Agency for Natural Resources and Energy (ANRE) has proposed four categories of commercial solar projects that would keep receiving feed-in tariff (FIT) and feed-in premium (FIP) support after April 2027, when the government ends blanket subsidies for ground-mounted commercial solar plants. The proposal, put to a METI subcommittee, marks the next step in a policy shift Tokyo approved in December 2025 to phase out open-field solar subsidies in favor of projects seen as more compatible with local land use.
Under the plan, continued support would be reserved for solar installations on land owned and managed by national or local governments; projects located within municipal renewable-promotion zones that have an approved decarbonization plan; solar carports built over parking areas; and panels integrated into public infrastructure such as airports, roads, railways and ports. Outside these four categories, newly certified ground-mounted commercial solar projects of 10 kW or larger will no longer qualify for FIT or FIP payments once the rule takes effect.
What got left out
ANRE rejected continued support for several categories developers had sought, including solar on industrial parks, abandoned farmland, and former golf courses. Agrivoltaic projects — solar panels installed above active farmland — were not rejected outright but deferred pending completion of separate land-use rules from Japan’s agriculture ministry, leaving their eligibility for the post-2027 regime unresolved for now.
Rates still to be set
The subcommittee has not yet set the FIT/FIP rates or support periods for the four surviving categories; those parameters are expected to be worked out between October and January, with final details due by February or March 2027, ahead of the new fiscal year. That leaves developers planning projects in the qualifying categories without pricing certainty for several more months, even as the broader policy direction is now clear.
Why Japan is narrowing the subsidy
The move follows years of friction over utility-scale solar sited on cleared hillsides and farmland, which has drawn local opposition over landslide risk, deforestation and loss of agricultural land, even as Japan has leaned on solar to help meet its 2030 renewable energy targets. By steering support toward rooftops, carports and public infrastructure, regulators are betting they can keep adding solar capacity — particularly in a land-constrained country where utility-scale sites are harder to secure — without the land-use conflicts that ground-mounted plants have generated. Japan has separately been tightening other parts of its clean energy build-out: grid operator OCCTO moved this month to tighten grid-connection rules after the battery storage interconnection queue swelled to 172 GW of proposed projects, a sign that both solar and storage developers are running up against the limits of how fast new capacity can be absorbed onto Japan’s grid.
What it means for developers
Large-scale ground-mounted solar developers without a public-land, carport, or infrastructure angle will need to pursue projects as merchant plants selling into the wholesale market or through corporate power purchase agreements rather than relying on FIT/FIP, a shift that mirrors subsidy phase-downs already underway in several European solar markets. Developers with projects already certified before the rule takes effect are expected to keep their existing terms, though ANRE has not yet published transition guidance for projects in permitting at the time of the change.
Sources
- pv magazine, “Japan proposes four categories for priority commercial solar support,” October 6, 2026 — the four categories, rejected categories, rate-setting timeline.
- Japan Agency for Natural Resources and Energy (ANRE) / METI subcommittee proceedings, cited in pv magazine reporting — policy background and December 2025 decision.
Illustrative image. Photo: Dr. Chinchu C., CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons — source
