Japan’s technological prowess is world-renowned, with the island nation being considered one of the most technically advanced and innovative countries. And yet, the Asian power-house is frightfully behind when it comes to one critical sector – renewable energy (RE).
To combat this, the Japanese government has made it a priority to achieve a net-zero society and carbon neutrality by 2050. As a result, there has been a spike in new RE projects being commissioned with players like Siemens Gamesa and Vestas winning massive bids. After successful contracts with powerhouses like Repsol, Meridan Energy and Adani Siemens is looking to cement its place in the Japanese market, where it has been operating for the last 20-odd years.
Eurus Energy, Japan’s leading independent RE developer, is planning to commission four wind power projects as part of the 339.7MW Dohoku wind farm cluster. Siemens Gamesa has been contracted to supply 79 typhoon-class onshore wind turbines for the project. Additionally, Siemens will also provide the technical know-how and field assistance for the construction and commissioning of the four projects.
Each turbine will be the 4.3MW typhoon-type onshore model which has been specifically designed to suit Japan’s typhoon-heavy conditions. Manufacturing condition-specific turbines is not a new thing for Siemens. During its operations in India where it has had successful contracts with ReNew Power and Adani, Siemens rolled out the SG 3.4-145 turbine that was optimized for the country’s conditions.
India is one of Siemens Gamesa’s stronghold, where it has developed a world-class manufacturing and supplier base. Siemens’ total installed capacity in India surpassed 6.9GW in 2020 and is anticipated to increase in the coming years. The country has a booming RE industry with established players like Tata Power, ReNew Power, Adani, Siemens, GE sharing the cake.
Adani, in particular, has been in the news for achieving its target of 25GW RE capacity four years ahead of schedule. The company had a very successful 2020 where its net profit rose by 86 per cent and hit Rs 104 crore. To top that, it added a whopping 925MW operational capacity in FY21 despite the pandemic. Adani Green Energy Ltd has been slowly building on the success of the Adani Siemens contracts which totals over 860MW. Its acquisition of SB Energy India for $3.5 billion was the largest in the Indian RE industry and pushed it over the 25GW mark.
The Asia-Pacific region is one of the fastest growing regions and is expected to contribute roughly 60 per cent of global growth by 2030. A robust power generation capacity is fundamental to sustaining growth and the expected rising power demands. Although the world is making a conscious shift to green power, conventional power generation methods cannot be hastily shunned. The transition needs to be smooth less the delicate balance is disturbed. This will have to be considered by countries like Japan as they take their first step towards a greener future.
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