On Monday, Japanese utility Kansai Electric Power (EPCO) and German utility RWE announced they had signed an agreement to jointly study the feasibility of an offshore floating wind project, located off the coast of Japan. The project is intended to help Japan reach its aim of complete carbon neutrality by 2050.
Under Japan’s push to reach carbon-zero, the government has set a target of installing up to 45GW of offshore wind power by 2040, with a specific law introduced in 2018 to stimulate wind farm development. The government also stated that projects will require at least 60% of its equipment to come from domestic suppliers.
“We see great potential for floating wind farms worldwide – but especially in countries with deeper coastal waters, like Japan,” said RWE Offshore COO Sven Utermohlen in a statement.
“Floating wind could help to raise untapped potential off the Japanese coast,” he added. “With Kansai we have a partner by our side…who shares our values and ambition to drive the growth of offshore wind in Japan.”
The German utility is currently working on three floating demonstration projects, located in Norway, Spain and the US, which will be trialling different types of floating foundations. The firm is also undertaking a feasibility study of bottom-fixed offshore wind projects in regions throughout Japan.
Kansai EPCO is working towards its goal of increasing its installed capacity to 6GW worldwide by the 2030s, and is currently involved in two European offshore wind projects. The utility is also promoting development of offshore wind projects in the Japanese regions of Akita, Yamagata and Nagasaki, among others.
“We have declared that Kansai Electric Power Group is aiming for carbon neutrality throughout the entirety of its business activities including power generation by 2050,” said Executive Vice President of Kansai EPCO Nozomu Morni. “We believe that development of floating offshore wind farms will be the key to achieve this.”