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.

KSD1-32 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from the independent production business of wind turbines, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Japan Steel have in fact withdrawn from the production of onshore wind power generation equipment, only serving the sales work of joint ventures.

At a time when other local wind turbine equipment manufacturers have withdrawn from the market, why did Toshiba choose to join hands with GE to increase its presence in the offshore wind market?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 KSD1-32 (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.”

KSD1-32 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 KSD1-32 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.

Abundant resources, offshore wind power sites are rich

Japan has the seventh largest coastline in the world, and the long and narrow coastline gives Japan unique conditions to develop offshore wind power.

Although water depths are increasing rapidly in coastal areas of Japan, typical depths are 200m, relatively close to the coast (20km-50km). However, in relatively shallow waters below 50m, Japan has a huge resource potential of around 61GW. This not only provides a huge opportunity for stationary offshore wind, but deeper waters also provide an opportunity for Japan to become a leading market for floating wind.

The development of cost-effective floating offshore wind technology in deeper and more distant waters is important for Japan to help it meet its electricity supply needs while also helping it meet its climate goals.

The biggest problem facing the development of offshore wind power in Japan, especially floating offshore wind power, is the cost problem.

It is understood that Japan’s first offshore wind power pilot project was put into use as early as 2003, but by the end of 2019, Japan had only 66 MW of offshore wind power installed. There is still a big gap with the offshore wind power installation target set by the Japanese government, in other words, the development of the offshore wind power market in Japan has huge potential.

Inheritance of genes, Toshiba re-enters the wind power market

This partnership with GE is not Toshiba’s first entry into the wind power market, in fact, Toshiba has already injected rich wind power genes as early as 10 years ago.

International Energy network/wind power headlines (wechat signal: wind-2005s) query information found that in 2011, Toshiba and South Korean wind turbine manufacturer Unison set up a capital alliance; In June 2012, Toshiba invested 24 billion won to become the largest shareholder of yunisun, a South Korean wind power equipment manufacturer. In September 2013, Toshiba announced it would enter the wind Power market through the acquisition of Sigma Power Janex Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Janex.

Toshiba’s previous acquisitions include wind turbine manufacturers and wind power operators, and it has accumulated certain experience in wind power equipment manufacturing and wind power project operation.

At present, Macquarie Green Investment Group (GIG) and Iberdrola are planning six offshore wind farms with a total development scale of 3.3GW.