Japan sets 'ambitious but reasonable' floating wind target
Move comes shortly after Japan wooed Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas to play bigger role in its renewables market
Japan has taken the next step in getting its floating offshore wind sector up and running by setting what was described as an ‘ambitious but reasonable’ 2040 target.
Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has set a goal of deploying 15GW of capacity by 2040, enough to supply 9 million homes, according to local media.
Japan’s broader offshore wind target for 2040 is between 30-45GW, meaning that floating wind would make up between a third and a half of that total.
Writing on LinkedIn, Masataka Nakagawa, country manager for Japan at OWC, hailed the “ambitious” but “reasonable” target that he said will encourage developers, contractors and suppliers to invest in the sector.
He cautioned, however, that with fixed-bottom projects currently struggling to make the numbers add up, a “more robust strategy is mandatory for stabilisation of floating wind project development.”
For floating wind, he argued that it will be necessary to keep a feed-in-tariff until the market is mature given it is “more challenging and expensive” than fixed bottom.
Japan has the world's sixth-largest EEZ – non-territorial waters where maritime nations claim mineral exploration and fishing rights – with new tracts of waters 200 metres or more deep now in play for offshore wind.
Japan’s offshore wind targets are aimed at helping the country achieve its broader goal of net zero emissions by 2050.
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