Japan has over 1,000 ports, yet when it came to selecting winners of the most recent offshore wind auction, a decision on one of the four projects offered was delayed for over three months due to concerns over port access. And this was only Round 2 of national offshore wind tenders.

With ambitions of building 45 GW of offshore wind capacity in the next two decades, Japan faces an unusual predicament. The country is well known for excellent infrastructure and plenty of ports, but few can handle the logistics and transport required to receive, store, and assemble wind farm components, as well as to support the installation and maintenance of offshore wind facilities.

The success of multi-billion-dollar offshore wind power projects can hinge on the availability of suitable port infrastructure. A port’s geographic proximity to an offshore wind project, for example, is a key factor impacting overall costs and efficiencies. Ports also determine the range and length of deployment of installation vessels, as well as those used for operations and maintenance. Investors determine their interest in a project partly based on port access.

As Japan’s offshore wind industry moves from tenders to the practicalities of managing multi-hundred-MW projects, the government has heeded to industry calls for a revamp of port facilities and began to assess the scale of modernizations, as well as what it will take to allow Japanese ports to cope with today’s larger vessels, wind turbines, and other equipment. 

Since these challenges are too complex for individual developers to solve, the government is supporting public and private action, and corralling stakeholders for sector-wide cooperation.