Two studies commissioned by the European Commission conclude that Japan would benefit from simplifying rules related to offshore wind energy tendering and from removing restrictions on foreign vessels’ access to work on offshore wind energy projects. In the absence of such regulatory reforms, Japan may see difficulties in reaching its goals to increase the proportion of renewables in its energy mix and achieve climate neutrality by 2050.

European Union (EU) Ambassador-Designate to Japan Jean-Eric Paquet said, “This is a sector where the EU has long-standing experience in developing an open operating environment for wind energy companies. Our policy has resulted in fair competition, innovation and lower energy prices - key components of Europe’s green transformation.” Bilateral EU-Japan cooperation can play an important role in finding mutually beneficial solutions to the development of Japan’s regulatory framework. “This sector is a priority for both the EU and Japan and our bilateral Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) provides a good basis for continued cooperation and these studies provide useful analysis to support this cooperation” Ambassador-Designate Paquet added.

According to the study on tendering, a model used widely in the EU with clear and transparent rules and evaluation that gives credit to bids with low energy prices would seem to be the ideal model for Japan. Regarding vessels, the current restrictions limiting the access of foreign ships to Japan to participate in wind farm construction leads to delays and additional costs for developers.

The two studies, undertaken by Aquilo Energy GmbH, are the Analysis of the provisions of maritime cabotage services in Japan and Analysis of the offshore wind tender results in Japan. They continue a series of studies commissioned by the EU Delegation to Japan on offshore wind energy sector. An earlier study on standardisation is available here.