JERA starts operations at Japan's biggest offshore wind farm

Japanese utility and NTT Anode Energy had bought 112MW Ishikari Bay project last year from US player Pattern Energy

Ishikari Bay New Port offshore wind farm during installation.Foto: JERA

Bernd Radowitz

Japanese utility JERA and Green Power Investment Corp. (GPI) have started operations at the 112MW Ishikari Bay New Port nearshore wind farm, which JERA said is the largest commercial offshore wind array so far off the East Asian nation.

The wind farm off Hokkaido in Ishikari Bay near Sapporo features 14 Siemens Gamesa 8.0-167 DD turbines certified to withstand typhoons and seismic activities.

JERA, a joint venture between Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Tepco) and Chubu Electric Power, together with NTT Anode Energy last year had bought a clutch of renewables assets from US group Pattern Energy that included GPI and with it the Ishikari Bay project.

Japan aims to allocate 10GW of offshore wind by 2030, and 45GW by 2040.

To reach the targets, the government in 2022 had revamped its offshore wind auction system in order to keep foreign investors on board, a strategy that seems to have worked as German energy giant RWE last month came out as the biggest winner in the latest offshore wind round, securing a 684MW project off the country’s west coast.

A consortium led by JERA also won at the same auction and was chosen to develop the 315MW project off the cities of Oga, Katagami and Akita.

All power generated at the Ishikari Bay array will be supplied to the Hokkaido Electric Power Network.

JERA starts operations at Japan's biggest offshore wind farm

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