Publication date: Feb 23, 2024
Japan More Than Doubled New Wind Power Installations in 2023
The Japan Wind Power Association has published its wind power generation report for 2023, showing that new installations reached 572.3MW – an increase of 240% compared to 2022 when the total was 232.9MW.
The increase was largely due to the start of a 54MW offshore plant in Akita Prefecture and onshore plants in Iwate (99MW) and Hokkaido (80MW) Prefectures. Average turbine sizes have also been increasing, rising from 3.3MW in 2022 to 3.8MW in 2023. Foreign turbine manufacturers provided the bulk of new installations in 2023, with Denmark’s Vestas accounting for 60%, followed by Germany’s Siemens with 33%.
Regionally, the windy Tohoku area tops the capacity rankings with a total of 2,106MW now installed, followed by Hokkaido with 682MW and Kyushu with 588MW.
Japan’s Strategic Expansion in Offshore Wind Energy Amid Global Industry Shifts
The Japanese offshore #wind market is set to continue expanding. The government is looking to approve the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) Act in March, which would allow offshore wind installations in Japan’s EEZ – an area up to 10 times as large as the existing offshore wind area around Japan. The Japan Wind Power Association forecasts that the country’s offshore wind capacity could reach 3.5 times the onshore wind capacity if installations in the EEZ are allowed.
This expansion, combined with a slowdown in the offshore wind market in China and the United States, will likely make the Japanese market more attractive for international companies.
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