Offshore wind power in Japan

Equinor considers itself to be a strong player with offshore wind power, using both fixed and floating turbines. The company could report in 2021 that it supplied a million European homes with power from wind farms at sea. Four of these were operational off the UK and Germany, with a number of projects also being pursued off the north-eastern USA and in the Baltic. The world’s first floating wind park was under construction for installation off the Scottish coast. And support structures for floating turbines to be installed in the Tampen area of the North Sea were being built at Vats north of Stavanger. The question was whether the Asian market could be developed.

Japan’s ambitions for renewables

Japan is a prosperous high-tech society, ranked as the world’s third largest economy. With 126 million inhabitants and much industry, it is also a big energy consumer. But the country lacks much in the way of indigenous energy resources, and 80 per cent of its consumption is met with imported fossil fuels. That makes Japan the world’s fifth largest greenhouse gas (GHG) emitter.

Over many years, the Japanese government has shown willingness to reduce these emissions. More than that, the country has been a leader in international collaboration on the climate and hosted the Kyoto summit in December 1997. Ranked as the first binding international climate pact, the protocol adopted at that meeting was the forerunner of the Paris agreement. When it came into force on 16 February 2005, 55 states – including Norway and Japan – had reached agreement on specific amounts and deadlines for GHG emission cuts by industrial countries.

As an industrial nation, Japan has placed great emphasis on secure and efficient energy supply. Nuclear power has been a key to ensuring this. In 2010, the government presented a plan for half the country’s energy to come from that source by 2030. But the accident at the Fukushima power station after an earthquake and tsunami in 2011 put a halt to that. All Japan’s nuclear plants were temporarily shut down the following year for safety checks.

The nuclear accident prompted the Japanese to turn their attention to Statoil’s concept for floating wind power. Visiting Norway to film the Hywind project, which is based on such turbines, the Nippon TV channel presented it to 24 million viewers. Takashi Yanagisawa, the journalist covering the story, was very impressed by the technology.[REMOVE]Fotnote: Gimse, Synnøve, 2020, Et reklameshow? En studie av Statoils satsing på havvindkraft, 2005-2017, master’s thesis, University of Oslo: 67.

Japanese policy has moved towards a heavy commitment to renewable energy since the country signed the Paris agreement in 2015.

Offshore wind potential

The shift in Japan’s energy policy gave Equinor reason to believe that there was significant potential for developing an offshore wind market in Japan. With 6 850 islands, the country has the world’s sixth largest sea area. Since much of these waters are relatively deep, they could be very suitable for floating turbines.

According to the Japan Wind Power Association, the long-term offshore potential for this form of power could be around 600 gigawatts, compared with an installed capacity of about 50 megawatts around 2019.

Given the significant potential of the wind power market, Equinor regarded a presence in Tokyo as strategically important in order to build relationships with key stakeholders and gain access to business opportunities in Japan’s offshore wind industry.

A megawatt (MW) is a million (10⁶) watts and a much-used unit of power. It is utilised, for example, to specify the capacity of a small power station. A gigawatt (GW) is a billion (10⁹) watts, and used among other applications to specify the capacity of a large power station.

Partnership boost

A collaboration agreement was entered into by Equinor in September 2020 with two centrally placed Japanese players on participating in Japan’s first large-scale auction of offshore wind power licences. The company was to prepare assessments with partners Jera and J-Power, and submit a joint bid.

Jera is relatively new, created in 2015 as a 50-50 joint venture by two big Japanese power companies. J-Power is a Japanese electricity generator established in 1952 and the second-largest generator of wind power on land in Japan. It is also involved in the offshore wind power market as co-owner of a project in Japan and another in the UK.

Establishing this consortium is wholly in line with Equinor’s renewables strategy, which aims to develop on a large scale in core areas. This could be the company’s first wind farm off Japan.[REMOVE]Fotnote: Økland, Jens, senior vice president for business development in renewables.

The Japanese government has earmarked the Yurihonjo and Noshiro areas off the Akita prefecture for offshore wind power development. These locations are suitable for fixed turbines.

Equinor saw opportunities for further growth in both bottom-fixed and floating offshore wind in Japan, as the waters off the Japanese coast are generally deeper than those found in many other parts of the world.[REMOVE]Fotnote: In a press release dated 9 September 2020, Equinor announced a partnership for offshore wind development in Japan: “Equinor teams up for offshore wind growth in Japan” https://www.equinor.com/no/news/archive/2020-09-equinor-teams-up-for-wind-growth-in-japan

In June 2026, however, Equinor announced that it had decided to discontinue its offshore wind activities in Japan. As a consequence, the company’s Tokyo office will also be closed.

The main reason given was a strategic decision to concentrate investments in “integrated power markets” – defined as geographic areas where Equinor holds significant ownership interests and influence across renewable and flexible power generation, energy storage, and power marketing and sales.

Although its permanent presence in Japan will come to an end, Equinor will continue its close collaboration with several Japanese companies, particularly in the field of technology development.[REMOVE]Fotnote: https://www.equinor.com/where-we-are/japan, accessed 10 November 2026.