Japan Wind Power Association (JWPA) announced on Monday its plan to expand wind capacity to 140 GW by 2050 from less than 5 GW now to meet a third of the country’s electricity demand and help it hit its 2050 carbon neutrality target.
Offshore wind is a key element of Japan’s renewable energy expansion, but the progress has been slow and the government’s target of achieving up to 45 GW of offshore wind power by 2040 appears less ambitious than the new targets set by JWPA.
“We need to map out a clear goal to attract foreign suppliers of wind farms so that they would invest in Japan and build local supply chains here,” JWPA President Jin Kato said at a news conference.
Japan, ranked as the world's fifth-largest emitter of CO2, should scale its offshore wind power generation capacity to 100 GW by 2050 to decrease emissions, according to JWPA.
As of the end of 2022, Japan has less than 5 GW of installed wind power capacity, of which only 0.14 GW is from offshore.
Last year, the government had to suspend the selection of windfarm project developers for nine months as it revised the bidding rules due to criticism from businesses that the rules lacked clarity.
The installations could generate an economic ripple effect of 6 trillion yen ($44.4 billion) per year in 2050, create 355,000 jobs, and reduce fossil fuel procurement costs by 2.5 trillion yen per year, JWPA estimated.
