News | Headlines
Plans dropped for three offshore wind farms
Japan Wind power
Mitsubishi Corporation has been reviewing the business plans for three offshore wind farms located off the coast of Japan. As a result of the review, first announced in February 2025, the company has decided not to proceed with the development of the projects, saying that the projects have been cancelled ‘due to unexpected changes in the business environment.’
Mitsubishi Corp Offshore WInd Ltd (MCOW)
has, through a consortium, been developing offshore wind projects off three areas, firstly Noshiro City, Mitane Town, and Oga City (Akita Prefecture), second Yurihonjo City (Akita Prefecture), and third Choshi City (Chiba Prefecture).
Since the selection as the operator of these projects in December 2021, in the wake of the Covid pandemic and the Ukraine crisis the business environment for offshore wind power has significantly changed around the world
owing to factors such as inflation, the depreciation of the yen, tight supply chains, and rising interest rates.
To adapt to these unexpected changes, Mitsubishi has been pursuing various options including reassessment of revenue, costs, and the project schedule. However, after discussions among the partners, it has determined that establishing a viable business plan is not feasible given the current conditions.
Scholven cooling tower F demolished Germany Coal power
On 6 September, the cooling tower of Block F at the Uniper coal-fired power plant in Gelsenkirchen-Scholven was demolished using explosives. At 2126 MW, it was once one of the largest power stations in Europe. The
dismantling project has been underway since April 2024. As part of a comprehensive safety concept developed and implemented by Uniper, the demolition company Regrata and other interested parties, a 300 m restricted area was defined around the cooling tower. The first signal tone indicating the demolition had not yet faded away when the cooling tower was lying in the previously calculated position. Uniper will process the approximately 11 000 tons of concrete rubble on site into high-quality recycled material and reuse it to fill the excavation pits.
In order to tilt the cooling tower precisely to the position that had been calculated beforehand, a vertical slot and several drop slots had to be installed in the tower. A total of around 400 drill holes were created shortly before the demolition. 60 kg explosives were used. In 2008 cooling towers G and H were successfully
Global electricity demand to continue steep rise Worldwide Power demand
Global electricity demand is expected to expand at one of the fastest sustained paces in over a decade despite ongoing economic pressures, according to the International Energy Agency’s Mid Year Update of its annual market report. (IEA chart, right).
Electricity demand is on course to rise by 3.3% in 2025 and 3.7% in 2026 – more than twice as fast as total energy demand growth over the same period, according to the report. Demand is increasing to power factories and appliances, to cool buildings, to operate growing fleets of data centres, to power electric vehicles, and more. The latest forecasts for global electricity demand growth this year and next are well above the 2015-2023 average. According to the Update, renewables are expected to overtake coal as the world’s largest source of electricity generation as early as 2025 or by 2026 at the latest, depending on weather and fuel price trends. At the same time, nuclear power output is expected to reach record highs. The steady increase in natural gas-fired power generation is set to continue displacing coal and oil in the power sector in many regions.
6 | September 2025 |
www.modernpowersystems.com
demolished using the same blasting strategy. Dr. Martin Hein, head of Decommissioning at Uniper, said: “It is clear that the Scholven landmark is changing. And the further dismantling activities at the … power plant site are progressing well. This year, we will also demolish boiler house F and the FGD plant. Further demolitions are planned for the site in 2026.”
Uniper power plant manager Dr. Lars Wiese said: “The demolition of cooling tower F is an important step and the next major visible sign of the dismantling of the former Scholven coal site. With the space now freed up, the transformation of the site continues. The direction is clear: decarbonisation, security of supply, and securing developing the site.” Uniper plans to build a new H2-ready gas-fired power plant at the site in the coming years. Other projects for environmentally friendly energy generation are also in the planning stage.
Global electricity demand 2019–2026
1750 1500 1250 1000 750 500 250 0
-250 -500
China
2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 India
European Union
Southeast Asia Others
Net change United States
TWh
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