Japan’s industry and land ministries on Wednesday selected three consortiums, including one by Germany’s RWE and its partners, as the wind power operators for three offshore blocks among four areas tendered in a second round of public auctions.
The results of the second major round under a new law to promote wind power were closely watched by energy companies at home and abroad, after the first round was dominated by Mitsubishi Corp.
Japan’s offshore wind power market is set to grow as the government aims to have 10 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind farm deals by 2030, and up to 45 GW by 2040, as part of its decarbonization push.
The winner of the 315-megawatt (MW) wind farm off the coast of Oga-Katagami-Akita in Akita Prefecture is a consortium of JERA, Electric Power Development (J-Power), Itochu and Tohoku Electric Power.
Another consortium of Mitsui & Co., RWE and Osaka Gas won the 684 MW wind farm off the coast of Murakami-Tainai in Niigata Prefecture.
The third group of Sumitomo Corp. and Tokyo Electric Power’s renewable power unit won the 420 MW wind farm off the coast of Enoshima in Nagasaki Prefecture.
The ministries plan to announce the winner of the 356 MW farm off the coast of Happo-Noshiro in Akita Prefecture in March 2024, they said in a statement.
The government finished accepting bids for the second round of offshore wind power tenders at the end of June to build 1.8 GW of capacity in four blocks.
Japan aims to boost renewable power capacity to help achieve its 2050 goal of becoming carbon neutral.
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