Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) announced Feb 9, 2016, that a law reform bill related to the feed-in tariff policy has been approved by the Cabinet.

The bill will be submitted to the 190th ordinary session of the Diet and is expected to be implemented April 1, 2017, except a part of it. If the bill is implemented, it will bring the following changes.

The current (FIT-based) certification system, which certifies facilities, will be replaced with a new system that certifies power generation businesses. Under the new system, the conclusion of a contract with a power company will be one of the requirements for certification.

If a contract cannot be made in a certain period of time that will be given for the transition, the power producer cannot switch to the new system and cannot keep the purchasing price obtained under the current system. This is aimed at eliminating stagnant projects (certified facilities that do not start operations).

In regard to the method to decide a purchasing price in and after fiscal 2017, a "bidding system" and "price reduction schedule" will be introduced. The bidding system will be used for solar power generation facilities with a capacity higher than a certain level while the price reduction schedule will be applied to residential solar power generation systems and wind power plants.

However, the bidding system is supposed to be used only when it can lower purchasing price. So, whether it is actually used will be judged depending on the situation.

• [Editor:tianyawei]