Equinor teams up for offshore wind growth in Japan

Equinor, Jera and J-Power have partnered and entered a joint bid agreement prior to Japan’s upcoming Round 1 offshore wind auction. The three companies will jointly evaluate and work towards submitting a joint bid in the Round 1 auction once the Japanese government officially opens what will be country’s first offshore wind auction.

Establishing this consortium is in line with Equinor’s renewable strategy of building scale in core regions and develop growth options in selected markets to become a global offshore wind major. 

The Japanese government has dedicated Yurihonjo and Noshiro, two areas offshore the northern Japanese prefecture of Akita, as promotional zones for offshore wind, each representing an area for bottom-fixed offshore wind farms of approximately 400 MW and 700 MW respectively. The upcoming auction is anticipated to start within the next months, with bid submission taking place six months after the auction opens. Once the auction is closed, the results are expected to be announced towards the end of 2021. Potential wind farms would then tentatively be operative post-2025.

‘Japan has a high potential to develop a market for offshore wind. Their ambitions to increase their renewable energy sources from today’s 15–16% to about 22–24 % by 2030, hereunder a target of 10 GW wind capacity to meet their climate change commitments and become more energy independent, present exciting opportunities,’ says Senior Vice President for Business Development in New Energy Solutions in Equinor, Jens Økland.