South Korea, India and Japan have all announced major plans to incentivize clean energy and invest in environmental projects.
South Korea said yesterday it will invest 50 trillion won ($38 billion) over the next four years to stimulate economic growth through environmental projects. The country’s "Green New Deal" is similar to U.S. president-elect Obama’s plans for creating green jobs.
Prime Minister Han Seung-soo said the plan will create 960,000 new jobs, with 140,000 of those realized this year. Projects will include energy conservation, recycling, carbon reduction, flood prevention, development around the country’s four main rivers and maintaining forest resources.
India RPS
The Indian government has created a federal renewable portfolio standard (RPS) requiring utilities to buy 5% of their grid feed-in from renewable sources beginning this year. The feed-in minimum will then increase 1% per year for the next ten years.
The government also said it will introduce a renewable energy certificates program to assist utilities to achieve their target. Some Indian states with excellent wind resources are reportedly already buying 10% of their grid feed-in from renewables. However, grid infrastructure improvements are needed throughout the country.
The RPS is part of the nation’s climate change response. India currently is fourth in the world for greenhouse gas emissions. The Indian government reportedly plans to announce several other initiatives to cap carbon emissions and tap renewable energy sources.
Japan Solar and Geothermal
Japan will begin accepting applications on January 13 for residential solar subsidies. In June the country decided to resume subsidies that were cut in March 2006.
According to the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the goal of the subsidies is to lower the price of residential solar generation systems and promote the expansion of the market in order to achieve the objectives of the Kyoto Protocol target. Eligible systems must have a maximum output of less than 10 kW.
In Related News….
Several Japanese firms will kick off new projects to build geothermal power plans this year for the first time in nearly two decades. Read Reuters coverage at the link below.
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