Japan on Friday formally kicked off its first tender for fixed-bottom offshore wind power, in a move to secure about 1.4GW of capacity that the industry said shows a “strong will” to hit national development goals.

The auction invites developers to bid to build projects at four sites off Akita and Chiba prefectures, each with about 350MW of potential development, said the Japan Wind Power Association (JWPA).

The auction – which will run until 27 May next year – is the second launched by the Japanese government, but the first to target large-scale fixed-foundation projects via the four ‘promotion area’ sites – Noshiro, Mitane & Oga; Yurihonjo North; Yurihonjo South; and Choshi.

The first tender round launched earlier this year and closing on 24 December was for the small 21MW Goto Islands demonstration floating wind project.

JWPA said the fixed-bottom tender, which was delayed by the Covid pandemic, is crucial if Japan’s energy ministry METI is to achieve its target of hitting 10GW of offshore wind by 2030, with a 1GW or greater annual build-out.

“This announcement means METI have strong will to achieve their target,” said Yoshinori Ueda, general manager of the JWPA, which wants the government to pursue a goal of up to 45GW of offshore wind by 2040, encompassing both fixed and floating foundations in the mix of deep and shallower waters off the nation's coasts.

However, the industry has previously criticised a 29 yen/kWh ($0.027) price cap on the first projects as too low, given the investments needed to kick-start the industry in its early stages. Analysts at Aegir Insights told Recharge the price was “challenging” for entrants to the fledgling market.

The emergence of Japan as a major offshore market over the next decade has prompted a rush of global development giants to the country, and entry by several big domestic players, most recently Tokyo Gas which joined a consortium targeting projects off Chiba Prefecture as recently as this week.

Iberdrola, Orsted, RWE, Equinor, Northland Power and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners all have positions in the Japanese market, which has also attracted big-name contractors looking to service the sector.

Wind

'Strong will': Japan enters large-scale offshore wind era with first fixed-bottom auctions