Factbox: How will Japan reach its ambitious goal in offshore wind energy?

Sojitz

12/03/2024 09:59

TOKYO, March 12 (Reuters) - Japan aims to become the
world's top producer of offshore wind energy, joining such
countries as China and Britain in its transition to a
zero-emission economy, while boosting energy security. 
    Although Japanese companies have offshore wind assets in
countries from Taiwan to Belgium and Britain, they have yet to
build large-scale farms at home. 
        On Tuesday, Japan's government 
    approved
     a draft amendment to the existing legislation to allow for
the installation of offshore wind power in exclusive economic
zones (EEZ), a milestone towards the country's goal of carbon
neutrality by 2050.
  
    
    HOW DOES JAPAN PLAN TO BOOST CAPACITY? 
    Japan's 136 megawatt (MW) of offshore wind capacity
installed by 2022 was a fraction of Britain's nearly 14 GW and
China's 31 GW, the Global Wind Energy Council says.
    It aims to have 10 GW by 2030, with up to 45 GW operational
by 2040, as it targets a share of 36% to 38% for renewables in
its electricity mix by the end of this decade, compared to about
20% now, in its race to be carbon neutral by 2050. 
    A Marubeni-led consortium  8002.T  launched Japan's first
large-scale commercial offshore wind operations at Noshiro port
(84 MW) and Akita port (55 MW) in late 2022 and early 2023. 
    Danish wind turbine maker Vestas  VWS.CO  provided
bottom-fixed turbines for Marubeni's farms. 
            
    WHAT WAS THE RESULT OF THE FIRST ROUND? 
    A Mitsubishi-led consortium  8058.T  won all three offshore
wind farm auctions in 2021 in the regions of Akita and Chiba,
with combined capacity of 1.7 GW and a target start-up date of
2028 to 2030. 
    All will have bottom-fixed structures. General Electric
 GE.N  will make 134 wind turbines, each of capacity 13 MW, to
be assembled and maintained by Japan's Toshiba  6502.T .
    The first major round spurred interest by foreign companies
in entering the Japanese market, among them Denmark's Orsted
 ORSTED.CO , Germany's RWE  RWEG.DE  and Norway's Equinor
 EQNR.OL .
            
    WHAT HAPPENED IN THE SECOND ROUND FOR 1.8 GW CAPACITY?
        RWE was the only foreign player awarded a 684 MW wind
farm, in a consortium with Japanese partners, for the three
projects in 
    the second round
     of auctions, and the rest was taken by local companies. 
  
        The three projects are all bottom-fixed type wind farms
and scheduled to start operation between June 2028 and August
2029, with turbines from Vestas  VWS.CO  and General Electric
 GE.N  are to be used.
  
        The 
    winner of the remaining 356 MW farm off the coast of
Happo-Noshiro in Akita prefecture should be announced in March
2024.
        In January, the government launched a 
    third round
     of auctions to select operators for two new offshore wind
power areas capable of generating 1.05 GW in the northern part
of the country, with results due in December. 
  
    
    WHAT ARE THE PLANS FOR FLOATING OFFSHORE PLANTS?
    In 2021, the government selected a consortium of six
companies led by Toda Corp  1860.T  to build the 16.8 MW Goto
floating offshore wind farm in Nagasaki prefecture. It was the
only auction bidder for the small project. 
    In September, Toda and its partners flagged a two-year delay
in startup of the Goto project, to January 2026, because of
defects in a floating structure. 
    The amended legislation, which the government aims to pass
during this parliamentary session ending in June, would allow
the installation of offshore wind warms further into the sea, or
the EEZ, from current territorial and internal waters.
        EEZs are non-territorial waters where maritime nations
claim mineral exploration and fishing rights.
  
    Through the bill, Japan plans to create large-scale projects
in the sea area, accelerating offshore wind expansion. 
        An installation area in the EEZ could support a
generation capacity of several gigawatts, much larger than the
projects in territorial waters, according to the industry
ministry.      
            
    WHAT CONSTRAINTS AWAIT? 
    METI recommends a domestic share of 60% of the supply chain
by 2040. All major global renewable energy companies, from
Orsted and RWE to BP, Equinor and Iberdrola, have set up offices
in Japan. 
    GE Renewable Energy has teamed with Toshiba Energy Systems &
Solutions to make GE's Haliade-X offshore wind turbines near
Tokyo from 2026, turning out about 80 units a year, or 1 GW
annually.  
    The partnership is the sole nacelle supplier for the first
round. 

 (Reporting by Katya Golubkova and Yuka Obayashi; Editing by
Louise Heavens)
 ((jekaterina.golubkova@thomsonreuters.com))