The amendment, which was passed by Japan’s House of Representatives and the House of Councillors last week, will give project owners the right to operate wind farms in ports for periods of up to 20 years.

The new 20-year rule will not provide developers and asset owners with enough time to plan, build and later decommission coastal installations, according to the Japan Wind Power Association (JWPA).

However, the two-decade time frame has been “adopted as a compromise,” the JWPA says, as there is currently no legal precedent to provide companies with the rights to occupy port facilities for more than 20 years.

Developers and project owners will therefore be permitted to apply for extensions beyond the 20-year limit, ensuring that projects can still be built in the nation’s ports and harbours, the JWPA adds.

The legislation will also provide guidelines for developers to follow when they apply to install wind turbines in ports, according to the JWPA.

Ports offer the best opportunities in Japan — particularly in terms of construction and grid infrastructure — to build near-shore wind farms, the association says.

Last year, Japanese developer Eurus Energy completed an 18MW project in Akita, including one Siemens 3MW turbine that was mounted on pile foundations in the northern city’s port.

In January, the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation (NEDO) revealed plans to support the development of 270MW of offshore wind capacity through fiscal 2017, including a 170MW project that Marubeni and construction firm Obayashi will build in the port of Noshiro, Akita prefecture.

And SoftBank unit SB Energy is currently developing a 100MW wind farm in the port of Kashima, Ibaraki prefecture, in cooperation with Komatsuzaki and Orix.

However, Japan still lacks enough suitable ports, as well as appropriate installation vessels, to support sustained offshore build-out in the coming years.

Last week, the Fukushima Forward floating wind consortium nearly sank an advanced spar floater in Osaka Bay, partly because the port of Sumoto is not deep enough to accommodate the apparatus.

Wind

Japan to offer 20-year development rights for wind farms in ports