Solar panels are set up on a facility in the Ueno Zoological Gardens in Tokyo. From April 2025 onwards, homebuilders will be required by the Tokyo metropolitan government to outfit their newly built homes with solar panels.
A legislative measure to introduce quotas for solar panel installations will be submitted to the metropolitan assembly in December this year, according to a Sept. 9 announcement by the Tokyo metropolitan government.
It won't come with penalties to enforce the new requirements.
The change would make Tokyo the first place in Japan to require new homes to come with solar panels installed. Similar frameworks have already been put in place in Kyoto and Gunma prefectures, but they do not cover detached houses.
Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said at a Sept. 9 news conference that they will be nurturing a movement so that power will be generated on rooftops as naturally as houses have roofs.
If the reform effort goes smoothly in the capital, the central government may follow in Tokyo's footsteps.
The move is intended to counter the rising emissions from households. Tokyo is looking to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 from their 2000 levels. About 30 percent of its carbon footprint comes from households alone.
In the fall the central government set a goal to have solar panels installed on a greater number of newly built residences. It has refrained from making it compulsory.
Under Tokyo's plan, owners who commission the construction of large buildings with a total floor space of 2,000 square meters or greater would have to equip them with solar panels.
They're supposed to install them on homes and other small and midsize structures. Some 50 major corporations that meet certain requirements, such as those that have a total floor space of at least 20,000 square meters per year, are expected to fall into this category.
The metropolitan government wants to make the program more affordable by giving homebuilders more control over the process, and having them take responsibility for introducing the solar panels while homeowners can decide whether or not to use or sell the electricity.
Homebuilders will be able to decide how many solar panels they will install, based on how many homes they build along with their locations. So long as they meet their targets, the companies will be able to choose which properties to equip with solar panels.
Even if contractors and developers don't meet their targets, they wouldn't face penalties.
Tokyo will urge corporations to stick to their goals by giving guidance and publishing their names. It will name and shame any laggards.
It is estimated that solar panels will cost about 1 million yen $6,900, and will likely add to the price of the house. Tokyo will provide subsidies for home buyers and solar panel rental agents to reduce the burden on consumers.
The metropolitan government wants to increase the pace of decarbonizing residences by making it mandatory for charging stations for electric cars in new residences, and to make it mandatory to install charging stations for electric cars in new residences.