Page 10 - AsiaElec Week 06 2023

AsiaElec WIND AsiaElec

Japan commissions first large

offshore wind project

Over 2 GW of Marubeni onshore and offshore wind already commissioned

JAPAN ON January 31, Japan fully commissioned a its experience of the offshore wind farm project,”
55-MW offshore wind project, the first large one it said.
in the country. It is fixed-bottom – the founda- The conglomerate has already been involved
tions are on the sea-bed – in shallow waters in the in more than 2 GW of onshore and offshore
Sea of Japan. wind capacity globally that has already been
The lead developer of the Akita Port Offshore commissioned.
Wind Farm, part of the larger 114-MW Akita & Oil supermajor BP established a relationship
Noshiro project, is Marubeni. The company is a with Marubeni in 2022 to delve into offshore
leading integrated trading and investment busi- wind off Japan, a major energy importer.
ness conglomerate. Details have not been released but BP
The first part of the project, Noshiro Port Off- said it will join with Marubeni in a pro-
shore Wind Farm, has been in commercial oper- posal for an offshore wind project off the
ation since December 22, 2022 coast in Japan – an area of “exceptional wind
The Akita Port project consists of 13 of Vestas’ resource” – purchasing a 49% stake in the
V117-4.0/4.2 turbines and the power is being proposed project.
bought by Tohoku Electric Power Network. The The companies see this as a first step towards
project is off Akita Prefecture, said Marubeni in building a market-leading offshore wind posi-
a press release. tion in Japan, said BP at the time. “We want to
Partners in the projects were Chubu Electric, continue to build on bp’s offshore wind portfo-
Cosmo Eco Power, Obayashi Corp. and Tepco. lio – and we can’t wait to get to work in Japan
The capital cost was JPY100bn ($768mn), said with Marubeni,” said BP’s executive vice presi-
Marubeni. dent for gas and low carbon energy, Anja-Isabel
Marubeni issued a long-term vision on climate Dotzenrath,
change in March 2021 and has positioned a green Japan aims to be carbon-neutral by 2050 and
strategy as one of the basic principles to enhance has a goal of 10 GW offshore wind by 2030 and
corporate value in the mid-term. “Marubeni 45 GW by 2040. It has a feed-in tariff (FiT) pro-
will take a progressive approach to expand its gramme, which the new Marubeni project has
renewable energy business by making most of benefited from.™

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 06 08 •February•2023