Natural gas output rose a similar amount year-on-year to 35% of the power mix in 2011, according to GlobalData. It saw older oil-fired plants resuscitated with generation from them rising six percentage points from 2010, to 14%. The abrupt nuclear shutdowns after Fukushima led to rolling blackouts that highlighted the fragility of the country’s power system, with a monopolistic structure favouring large utilities. Its mountainous and forested terrain, and proneness to earthquakes, compound the challenge. Ten years later, the country is still trying to find its way forward on energy, battling with the dual pressures of climate change mitigation and security of supply. Prior to the Fukushima incident, Japan had planned to increase the share of nuclear to as much as 50% of its power supply by 2030, says the World Nuclear Association. Cables lead away from Yamakura Dam’s floating solar plant in Ichihara, Japan. Public support for the power source has yet to recover, and safety guidelines to restart nuclear power plants “are quite strict”, says Isshu Kikuma, energy analyst for Japan at BloombergNEF in Tokyo. In 2011, that share dropped to 14% and, as of last year, was down to less than 5%. Nuclear power had accounted for almost 30% of the country’s electricity generation in 2010. Fearful of further accidents, all 54 of the country’s nuclear plants were taken offline for safety checks. On 11 March 2011, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake off the east coast of Japan triggered a tsunami which led to a meltdown at three reactors in the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
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