Carbon Trust: wind power crucial for Japan’s energy future

Japan needs to boost the development of its wind sector and stop depending on nuclear power and imported fossil fuels to ensure a sustainable future, according to a new report by the Carbon Trust.

UK government’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office funded the research which highlights a series of measures to accelerate Research, Development and Deployment (RD&D) in Japan’s offshore wind sector.

It maps existing local solutions against where experience from the more developed European offshore wind industry could be leveraged to cut planning and construction costs, and speed up deployment of applications.

A national target was set by the Japanese Wind Power Association (JWPA) that could see 37 GW of offshore wind power installed by 2050.

Al-Karim Govindji, Senior Manager at the Carbon Trust commented, “Japan’s offshore wind industry is relatively embryonic as historically the emphasis has been on nuclear. Although in the past Japan excelled at shipbuilding, it presently lacks experience in large scale engineering projects offshore; experience the UK offshore wind industry has benefited from through decades of oil and gas exploration. It should be noted that challenging climatic and geological factors in Japan mean that European methods of construction and installation cannot always be applied. Japanese manufacturers are leading the way in developing bespoke solutions needed to cope with Japan’s challenging environmental conditions; however our analysis shows that experience from Europe on developing the right technologies and regulatory market conditions to foster an industry with enormous potential could deliver results quicker.”

Despite Japan’s commitment to increasing solar and wind power generation, nuclear reactors that were switched off following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant meltdown in 2011 have been approved to restart.

Japan has an estimated 1,570 GW of offshore wind potential in comparison to 280 GW of onshore wind, which is constrained by land availability and geography.

80 per cent of the offshore wind resource is located in water deeper than 100 metres which will require specialist deep water turbine technology.

If Japan is to meet its national target of 37 GW installed capacity by 2050, new floating technologies that can withstand the unique conditions in deep waters will need to be developed.