Offshore renewables in Japan are set to receive an important boost after the country passed a bill last November, which enables wind farms to operate inside national territorial waters for the next 30 years.
Since the March 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, Japan massively depends on imports of natural gas to meet its energy demands. With this measure, it became resource poor domestically and produces only a small amount of oil, gas and coal.
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As VesselsValue explains, over the last year and ranked by cargo tons, Japan’s top import country for LNG carrying vessels is Australia, followed by Malaysia and Qatar.
What is more, currently, wind power accounts for more than 10% of the overall amount of electricity supplied in Germany and the UK, in comparison to less than 1% in Japan.
In addition, solar power was the main renewable energy source in Japan, accounting for around 80% of the market, but has reduced due to a decrease in government subsidies and absence of suitable locations.
Moreover, offshore wind farms are expected to advance because of various factors, mostly via technological developments in floating wind turbines. These developments enable installation in Japan’s deep coastal waters.
What is more, Japan has the seventh longest coastline globally, as well as an offshore wind possibility of 1600GW. Nevertheless, 80% of this is in deep water more than 50 metres in depth. VesselsValue’s mapping module indicates that there are several wind turbine locations around Japan’s coast but no winds farms that are currently built, however with the passing of the recent bill, this could change.
Furthermore, 10GW of Offshore wind power is necessary per year to meet Japan’s target for 2030. In fact, the Japan Wind Power Association expects 4GW of floating wind farms and 6GW of fixed wind farms to be established by 2030.
With the cost of floating wind turbines decreasing due to advances in technology, the future for offshore wind in Japan looks bright. We will be keeping ahead of any future developments through our Mapping products
VesselsValue concluded.
