Energy Profile - Japan
"The Land of the Rising Sun"
(Population: 124 mi; GDP: US$4.23 tri; primary energy consumption: 400 Mtoe; electricity consumption: 1,004 TWh; installed capacity: 357.8 GW; energy self-sufficiency: 11%)
A country with a low energy self-sufficiency ratio (12.1% in 2019), Japan has a considerably low level compared with other OECD countries. It was 20.2% in 2010 before Fukushima nuclear power plant (NPP) accident; thereafter, it decreased substantially due in large part to the shutdowns of NPPs, but started to increase gradually in recent year [METI, 2022]. Figure 1 shows the energy self-sufficiency ratio of Japan.
Energy dependency
Japan depends largely on fossil fuels such as oil, coal, and liquefied natural gas (LNG), most of which are imported from overseas. Having experienced oil crises in the 1970s, Japan reduced its dependency on fossil fuels to a certain extent. However, since the Fukushima disaster in 2011, thermal power generation has increased with dependency on fossil fuels in FY2019 being 84.8%. Figure 2 shows trends in the mix of the primary energy supply in Japan. Figure 3 shows the sources of Japan's fossil fuel imports in 2021.
Figure 1: Energy self-sufficiency ratio of Japan
Figure 2: Trends in the mix of the primary energy supply in Japan
Figure 3: Sources of Japan's fossil fuel imports (2021)
