International Energy Network/Wind power headlines learned that recently, TOSHIBA (TOSHIBA) and the United States General Electric (GE) are promoting joint production of offshore wind turbine core components of cooperation negotiations.

At present, the most famous wind turbine manufacturer in Japan is mainly the joint venture Mitsubishi – Vestas, which is located in Europe, far away from the Japanese mainland, and in October 2020, Vestas has acquired the 50% stake held by Mitsubishi, which can be considered as a de facto “Danish enterprise”.

The tie-up between Toshiba and GE also reflects the weakness of domestic wind turbine production in Japan. According to the news, since 2020, Hitachi has announced its withdrawal from the independent production business of wind turbines, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Japan Steel have in fact withdrawn from the production of onshore wind power generation equipment, only serving the sales work of joint ventures.

At a time when other local wind turbine equipment manufacturers have withdrawn from the market, why did Toshiba choose to join hands with GE to increase its presence in the offshore wind market?

Policy heating up, offshore wind power industry clear

According to the International Energy network/wind power headlines (wechat signal: wind-2005s), Japan’s new wind power installed capacity in 2020 is 449MW, and by the end of the year, Japan’s cumulative installed capacity reached 4372MW. According to the Japan Wind Energy Association, “2020 will be the largest year for new wind power installations in Japan.”

On April 1, 2019, Japan began to implement the new Renewable Sea Use Law, hoping to promote the development of offshore wind power. According to the goal set by the Japanese government, by 2030, the proportion of renewable energy generation in the power system in Japan will increase from the current 17% to 24%.

In July 2020, Japan’s Ministry of Economy and Land issued a joint statement announcing the opening of floating offshore wind power public bidding activities. It is reported that this is the first floating offshore wind power tender in Japan, and it is also the first public offshore wind power tender in Japan since the promulgation of the latest “Renewable Sea Area Utilization Law”.

Data show that the floating offshore wind power project is expected to be built in Goto City, Nagasaki Prefecture, the minimum installed capacity requirement is 16.8MW, and the subsidized electricity price is set at 36 yen/KWH, about 2.374 yuan/KWH. The subsidies provided by the Japanese government for offshore wind power are much higher than those for photovoltaic and onshore wind power.

Japanese government wind power construction plan

The Japanese government’s re-launch of offshore wind power bidding has caused widespread concern in the industry, and some industry insiders regard it as Japan’s “turnaround in the offshore wind power industry.”

In December of the same year, the Asahi Shimbun reported that Japan plans to add 30-45 gigawatts of offshore wind power capacity by 2040, so as to achieve the world’s fifth largest carbon emitter country’s goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.

While achieving this goal, the Japanese government is also striving to make the domestic component procurement ratio reach 60% by 2040.

In the face of the possible outbreak of the market in the future, Toshiba chose to enter in time, and Japan’s magnificent offshore wind power installation plan gave wind power machine companies a shot in the arm.

At the same time, the 2011 Fukushima nuclear power plant accident in Japan has put a question mark on the trust and reliability of the Japanese government and people for nuclear power generation, and in order to meet the demand for electricity, coal power equipment built in many places in Japan has also been attacked by local environmental activists. As a safe and reliable renewable power generation technology, wind power is more psychologically acceptable to those who choose it.