Present Status and Target of Japanese Wind Power Generation

Abstract

After the accident of nuclear power plant at Fukushima in 2011, Japan’s energy policy has changed to make positive efforts to introduce renewable energies. As for wind power, at the end of 2016, 3120 MW of wind capacity had been installed. It includes 52.6 MW of offshore wind power. One 2 MW semi-offshore wind turbine starts operation in Feb. 2015 near Choshi Port, and one 7 MW floating offshore wind turbine has started operation in summer 2015 by Fukushima FORWARD project. The feed-in tariff for onshore wind has maintained JPY 22/kWh. METI had offered JPY36/kWh (EUR 0.27) for offshore wind power. The Ministry of Environment (MOE) and the METI have tried to shorten the EIA process period to within 2 years. And the MOE started new subsidies supporting 50% cost for pre-EIA investigation, and it was applied for about 20 sites in FY 2014. Most of Japanese wind resources exist in the northern rural regions. The METI had started to build new grid lines for wind power at northern rural area in Hokkaido and Akita. Three Japanese wind turbine manufacturers keep more than 60% domestic market share for several years. Their flagship new wind turbines start operation from 2013 to 2015. MHI-Vestas’s MWT167/7.0 7 MW turbine is to be applied for Fukushima FORWARD (floating offshore wind power demonstration) project in summer 2015. Hitachi’s HTW5.0–126 5 MW turbine is to be used for several offshore wind power projects in Japan.