Japan's energy production
Japan's energy production primarily relies on fossil fuels, with a significant portion of its electricity generated from oil, coal, and natural gas. In 2022, oil accounted for approximately 38% of the country's electricity generation, followed by coal at 27% and natural gas at 21%. Despite having some domestic energy resources, Japan lacks sufficient supplies to meet its needs and is heavily dependent on imports, making it the world's largest importer of liquefied natural gas and coal. The Tokyo Electric Power Company is the largest utility provider, generating about one-third of Japan's electricity.
The country also has a notable nuclear energy sector, which produced roughly 29% of its electricity in 2022. However, this sector faced substantial challenges after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, leading to the shutdown of all nuclear reactors at one point. By 2023, Japan had ten operational reactors. The government has set forth a strategic energy plan aiming to diversify energy sources, reduce fossil fuel reliance, and increase the share of renewable energy, such as solar and hydropower, which made up 14% of total electricity generation in 2022. Japan's energy consumption is concentrated in the industrial and commercial sectors, reflecting its status as a technologically advanced economy.
Subject Terms
Japan's energy production
Official Name: State of Japan.
Summary: Japan’s energy production is focused on fossil fuels, and its consumption of energy is concentrated in the commercial and public services sectors.
Japan is a highly developed country, technologically advanced Asian country located to the east of the Korean Peninsula and off mainland China. It is surrounded by the North Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Japan, along with the East China Sea and the Philippine Sea to its south.
With the world’s fourth-largest economy, Japan had an estimated $4.1 trillion gross domestic product (GDP), based on official exchange rates, as of 2023. Furthermore, based on 124 estimates, Japan had the 12th-largest population in the world, with an estimated 123 million people.
Japan has relatively few domestic resources for energy production and consequently is heavily reliant on the importation of energy resources, including coal, natural gas, and petroleum. Japanese firms, however, are widely involved in global, upstream energy operations.
Energy Production
In 2020, Japan had more than 312.8 gigawatts of total installed electricity-generating capacity. In 2022, approximately 38 percent of Japan’s electricity was generated with oil, while 27 percent of its electricity came from coal, and 21 percent came from natural gas.
The largest power company in Japan is the Tokyo Electric Power Company. The company generates roughly one-third of Japan’s electricity.
Thermal Resources
Japan, like many countries around the world, largely depends on conventional thermal resources for its electricity generation. The country’s coal and natural gas resources combine to generate about 48 percent of the country’s electricity.
Among all available energy resources, oil accounts for the largest share of Japan’s electricity generation at approximately 38 percent, while natural gas accounts for about 21 percent. Japan has some domestic sources of natural gas. In 2020, it had 738 billion cubic feet of proven natural gas reserves. However, natural gas proven reserves have declined since 2007, when they measured 1.4 trillion cubic feet.
The nation's natural gas fields are primarily located along Japan’s western coast in the Sea of Japan. Roughly 40 percent of Japan’s domestic natural gas is produced at the natural gas field of Minami-Nagaoka, also located on the western coast.
Japan had a large nuclear power industry. In 2022, nuclear energy accounted for roughly 29 percent of Japan's domestic energy production. The March 2011 earthquake and tsunami had a severe effect on the country’s total number of operating nuclear power plants. Prior to this incident, according to the US Energy Information Administration, the government of Japan had plans to increase nuclear’s share of total electricity generation from 24 percent in 2008 to 50 percent by 2030. By 2013, all of Japan’s nuclear reactors were shut down, leaving a 30 percent gap in electricity supply. As of 2015, Japan had a total of 43 operable nuclear reactors with a total installed generating capacity of 40.3 gigawatts. Of these 43 operable reactors, however, 5 reactors were permanently shut down, while 24 were in the process of being approved for resuming operations. By August 2017, five reactors had restarted. These closures reduced its electricity generation to 9.4 terawatt-hours (TWh) in 2015, representing a mere 0.9 percent of Japan’s total electricity generation. By 2023, ten total nuclear reactors were operating in Japan.
The Japanese government adopted the fourth Strategic Energy Plan in 2014. Based on this plan, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) formulated the Long-Term Energy Supply and Demand Outlook to 2030, which was adopted in July 2015. The plan anticipates a reduction in the use of natural gas, coal, and oil, as well as a return to nuclear energy and increases in the use of renewable energy.
In 2022, approximately 14 percent of Japan’s annual electricity generation was via hydropower. Like Japan’s nuclear power plants, Japan’s hydroelectric power facilities are also spread throughout the country.
Japan has several domestic firms involved in the solar photovoltaic industry, including Honda, Kyocera, Mitsubishi, Panasonic-Sanyo, Sharp, and Toshiba. In 2022, solar energy made up roughly 47 percent of Japan's renewable power generation.
Located in the volcanic Ring of Fire region, Japan also has significant geothermal resources. Such geothermal energy resources are located throughout Japan, but are most concentrated in the northern and southern parts of the country, with little representation in central Japan.
Energy Consumption
Approximately 38 percent of the nation’s total energy consumption in 2022 was from oil. The transportation sector and particularly gasoline consumption contribute to this energy usage. In 2022, Japan's domestic oil production was nearly 2 million barrels per day.
International petroleum projects in which Japanese firms are participating involve several nations, including Algeria, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Canada, Egypt, Kuwait, Indonesia, Norway, Russia, and Vietnam. Japan has diversified the nations with which it does business, including both developing and developed countries, along with those of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). It has assisted non-OPEC countries in various oil development projects.
Japan was the world’s fifth-largest oil consumer in 2022. That same year, it became the world's largest importer of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and the world’s largest importer of coal. Japan imports a significant amount of coal from Australia.
The vast majority of Japan's crude oil is imported from Arabic nations. The largest share of its oil imports come from Saudi Arabia. In July 2023, Japan imported 27.6 million barrels of oil from Saudi Arabia alone.
In 2022, Japan consumed approximately 16.89 quadrillion British thermal units (BTU) of electricity. Its energy consumption per capita was 136.12 million Btu per person, ranking 29th in the world. Most of the nation's energy consumption was attributed to the industrial and commercial sectors of Japan's economy.
Bibliography
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Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan. “Location of Power Plants.” www.fepc.or.jp/english/energy‗electricity/location/index.html. Accessed 2 Aug. 2024.
Institute of Energy Economics, Japan. “About IEEJ.” eneken.ieej.or.jp/en/about/index.html. Accessed 2 Aug. 2024.
"Japan." EIA, 7 July 2023, www.eia.gov/international/overview/country/JPN. Accessed 2 Aug. 2024.
“Nuclear Power in Japan.” World Nuclear Association, Aug. 2017, www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-profiles/countries-g-n/japan-nuclear-power.aspx. Accessed 2 Aug. 2024.