AsiaElec: Japan opens bidding for 360 MW of offshore capacity

Japan’s Ministry of Industry and Trade (METI) is to open bidding for 360 MW of offshore wind capacity in the north of the country, while also designating four “promising areas” and identifying a further 10 as potentially suitable for development.

The ministry plans to launch tenders for 1 GW of capacity this year, with 360 MW in the Happo-Noshiro area off the cost of Akita Prefecture to be followed by more tenders later in 2021.

“It has taken more time to consult local communities, as many stakeholders are involved and as physical meetings have been postponed due to the coronavirus [COVID-19],” a ministry official told Reuters.

The public auction for the Happo-Noshiro project could start in about four months, said the official.

The promising new areas include three in the Sea of Japan – one each off the coasts of Akita, Yamagata and Niigata Prefectures in northern Japan – and one in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Chiba Prefecture, near Tokyo.

For those areas, the preparation process, which includes wind and geological surveys and the formation of councils to consult communities, will start immediately, while the process for three areas identified earlier will continue.

In June, METI chose a consortium led by Toda Corporation for the 16.8-MW Goto floating offshore wind farm in Nagasaki, southern Japan, in the first auction under the new law.

From the first round of the process to select operators, areas with the capacity to generate about 1.5 GW were designated as enhanced areas and went forward to a bidding process, according to the ministry official.

As part of its green growth strategy for becoming carbon neutral by 2050, the Japanese government plans to award 10 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030 with 1 GW per year of tenders.

The plan calls for installing 30 to 45 GW of offshore wind turbines, including floating offshore wind turbines, by 2040, in part through the development of a competitive domestic supply chain.

The tender was Japan’s first offshore wind auction since the new Renewable Sea Area Utilisation Law came into force in April 2019.