Global Wind Energy Council and Japan's wind power body launch joint task force

The two are looking to launch a study on offshore wind cost reduction in October.

The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) and the Japan Wind Power Association (JWPA) launched a joint Japan Offshore Wind Task Force with local and global industry players geared towards accelerating Japan’s offshore wind market, according to an announcement.

The task force will address key bottlenecks to the growth of Japan’s offshore wind industry such as providing input to streamline the regulatory process for project development and building a local supply chain.

It includes both local and global industry players and will engage regularly with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT).

The first deliverable of the task force will be a cost reduction study to explore the long-term cost reduction potential of the industry in Japan. The study will be released in October 2020.

As of December 2019, Japan has 65.6MW of offshore wind power, including five floating turbines totalling 19MW, with another 13GW projects under EIA process.