The chief executive of Toshiba said it will seek a “strong partner” as it targets a Japanese-made turbine that can compete in the country’s fast-growing offshore wind market.

Toshiba will raise its ambitions in wind as part of a push to more than triple the size of its renewable energy business by 2030, adding to its existing power technology business in solar, geothermal and hydropower, said CEO Nobuaki Kurumatani.

“We are planning to build state-of-the-art wind turbines domestically to add wind power as a new area of focus.”

Kurumatani was asked by financial analysts how Toshiba expects to compete in an already crowded wind turbine segment that several of its fellow Japanese industrial giants such as Hitachi have already left.

We need to co-operate with a strong partner.

“We need to co-operate with a strong partner. Partnership is going to be critical,” said Kurumatani, who claimed Toshiba has “high level” technology in areas such as power generators and blades that it could bring to an alliance.

“We have not finalised this, but this is the direction we want to move ahead.”

The Toshiba CEO said the biggest opportunities in Japanese wind power would come at sea.

“Japan has more promising sites offshore rather than in onshore areas. The government is determined to increase the number of appropriate sites offshore,” Kurumatani said.

Renewables growth

Toshiba aims to more than triple the size of its renewable energy business within 10 years from revenues of 190bn yen ($1.8bn) in 2019 to 650bn yen in 2030.

Its investments will encompass solar, wind, energy storage and hydrogen, and include plans for a major business focused on virtual power plant (VPP) services, which Toshiba predicted would become an “enormous” market.

Toshiba’s role in the wind equipment market has been relatively low key in global terms. The last major announcement in the sector by its Toshiba Energy Systems and Solutions (ESS) unit was a 2018 partnership with the now-insolvent German turbine OEM Senvion to install the latter’s turbines in Japan. Earlier in 2020 Toshiba sold its stake in the South Korean wind OEM Unison.

The only turbine specified on the Toshiba ESS website is a 2MW onshore machine.

Any move by Toshiba to strengthen its presence in the wind market comes days after fellow Japanese giant Mitsubishi Heavy Industries sold its half share in the MHI Vestas offshore wind OEM to its joint venture partner Vestas, with the two pledging a new partnership in Japan “to secure accelerated growth for onshore and offshore wind energy”.

Wind power, especially offshore, is set to play a huge role in Japan’s energy future under 2050 net-zero plans recently unveiled by new Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.

Japan is currently holding its first tenders for offshore wind, with the industry hoping for a 1GW annual build-out that will drive 10GW of installations by the end of the decade and 37GW by 2050.

Toshiba is already a major player in Japanese solar, including via a link-up with global giant First Solar. The group is also a partner in a pioneering solar-powered green hydrogen plant in Fukushima, not far from the site of the 2011 nuclear disaster.

Coal retreat

Alongside the larger renewables strategy, Toshiba also became the latest global power systems group to signal a retreat from coal technology.

The group told Japanese media that it will stop taking orders for new coal-fired generation projects.

Toshiba’s retreat from coal reflects similar exit strategies announced by Siemens Energy as recently as this week, and earlier by US giant General Electric.

Transition

Japan's Toshiba seeks 'strong partner' for 'state-of-the art' offshore wind turbine