BY MAGDALENA OSUMI
For the past several years, Japan’s offshore wind industry has worried about auction rules, pricing, withdrawal conditions and the level of state support. Those complaints have not entirely disappeared. But today developers are pointing to a different set of obstacles: the geotechnical uncertainty created by Japan’s tectonic setting, steep seabed topography and exposure to geohazards such as earthquakes and typhoons.
The policy side is at least starting to move. On June 5, METI and MLIT announced the most significant upgrade so far to Japan’s annual offshore wind auction framework. The revised rules place greater weight on project feasibility rather than price alone, while JOGMEC is set to provide seabed geological survey data to reduce early-stage uncertainty for bidders.
Policy updates, however, have not resolved the question of how offshore wind projects are surveyed, certified and financed in Japanese waters. Developers may still face more costs and delays because project surveys and testing often need to satisfy local requirements and international standards required by insurers, lenders and certification bodies.
The result can be duplicate geotechnical investigations, seabed surveys and engineering assessments, effectively requiring some aspects of site characterization and due diligence to be verified twice. Auction rules can be improved by ministries. The seabed, and the standards used to assess it, are less easily simplified.
That is not a bad sign. A sector still arguing mainly about auction rules remains stuck at the starting line. One debating seabed data and certifications is beginning to grapple with the practical demands of project execution.