Japan offshore Poised for expansion Japanese offshore wind: status, recent developments and analysis
Emmanuel Ninos, Martin Lucas, James Ballantyne (Watson Farley and Williams LLP), with contributions from Kiyoshi Honda and Saori Kawai (Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu) and Ivan Savitsky and Megan Smith (The Carbon Trust)
T
he Japanese government’s Strategic Energy Plan sets the path for energy policy in Japan. It is formulated at least once every three years by the Ministry of Energy, Trade and Industry (“METI”). The 6th Strategic Energy Plan was approved by the Japanese Cabinet in October 2021. Its projections include targets for both 2030 and 2050. Formulation of the 7th Strategic Energy Plan is underway. The 6th Strategic Energy Plan projects a significant increase in the contribution from renewable energy, which means there will need to be a rapid scaling of Japanese renewables to achieve the targets. Wind power currently accounts for 0.9% of the energy mix in Japan. For wind to, as projected, meet 5% of the energy mix in Japan by 2030, there will consequently need to be a large number of new wind projects. To reinforce all of this, the government has also set a target of 30–45 GW of offshore wind by 2040.
Looking further into the future, the 6th Strategic Plan targets carbon neutrality by 2050, with the government looking to continue rapid growth in renewable energy (including solar, wind and geothermal) as well as baseload nuclear energy. Given this background, it is not surprising that the Japanese government, and corporate investors, are engaging with the Japanese renewables market. This interest has included recent M&A in the energy sector including ENEOS’ purchase of Japan Renewable Energy for approximately JPY200bn (US$1.4bn) and NTT Anode Energy and JERA jointly purchasing Green Power Investment for approximately JPY300bn (US$2bn). In addition, Infroneer Holdings, a Japanese infrastructure company, recently purchased Japan Wind Development from Bain Capital for JPY200bn (US$1.4bn). As part of this renewables expansion, the offshore wind market in Japan
Japanese offshore wind farms currently in operation (as of May 2024)
Name
Semi offshore* Setana
Kamisu 1 Kamisu 2
Eurus Akita Port
Start of operation
2003 2010 2013 2015
Fully offshore Sakiyama (floating) 2016 Choshi (fixed) Hibiki (floating)
2019 2019
Noshiro Port (fixed) 2022 Akita Port (fixed) Nyuzen (fixed)
Ishikari Bay (fixed) Total, fully offshore
2023 2023 2024
MW
1.2 14 16 3
2
2.4 3
84
54.6 7.5
112 265.5 MW
* Semi offshore = accessible via land Source: Japan Wind Power Association, with updates
represents an area of key interest. This is due to, amongst other things: ■ Potential for growth – Japan’s offshore wind installed capacity currently stands at around 300 MW (see table, above) but is planned to expand to over 5.7 GW by 2030. Looking further ahead, Japan has over 50 GW of offshore wind capacity in the early planning stages.
■ Geography – Japan’s maritime jurisdiction, including its exclusive economic zone, is 4.47m km2
(the 6th largest in the world). Due to the water depth off the Japanese coast, there is considerable interest in floating offshore wind and Japan is one of the early adopters of this technology. The Japan Wind Power Association estimates long term potential to be about 128 GW for fixed and 424 GW for floating offshore wind.
■ Investment climate and environment – As already noted, Japanese renewables are attracting significant interest from both domestic and international investors and there is a developed regulatory framework, coupled with a stable business climate, to
facilitate the development of major offshore wind projects.* With recently proposed legislation, this will also apply to international investors considering floating offshore wind projects in Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone.
The regulatory framework Japan is developing a regulatory framework for its growing offshore wind sector. The three regulatory frameworks that govern different areas of the Japanese coastline are as follows: 1. Ports/harbours are governed by the Port and Harbour Act. After the amendment to this Act in 2019, wind farm developers can obtain occupation permits for their use of certain designated zones (within ports and harbours) for up to 30 years.
2. General (aka Territorial) Sea Area (coloured light yellow in the map below) is governed by the Marine Renewable Energy Act. This extends up to 12 nautical miles from the coast. This law also stipulates developers selected through public tender are permitted to use sea areas for up to 30 years.
3. The Exclusive Economic Zone (coloured white in the map below) is not currently
Map of Japan – showing sea areas (Source: website of Japan Coast Guard https://
www1.kaiho.mlit.go.jp/ryokai/ryokai_setsuzoku.html)
* The Carbon Trust’s report Recommendations to support skills development for offshore wind in Japan provides more detail on the background to the Japanese offshore wind market:
https://ctprodstorageaccountp.blob.core.windows.net/prod-drupal-files/documents/resource/public/Skills-and-training-need_final_March_2023.pdf
World Wind Technology 23
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