Japan's wind power capacity grows to 3,038 MW in 2015

Japan's energy mix is slowly transforming.

It has been noted that while the rest of Asia did not make much progress in 2015, there are some favourable signs on the horizon. The Japanese market installed almost 245 MW in 2015 to reach a cumulative capacity of 3,038 MW.

According to a research note from the Global Wind Energy Council, this represents around 0.5% of the total power supply, and Japan is slowly moving towards a transformation of its energy system to allow for a more diverse energy mix including more wind power and other renewables.

However, removing existing barriers will still take time. Offshore wind development, in particular on floating platforms, is a promising prospect for the future.

Here's more from the Global Wind Energy Council:

Wind power grew at a moderate pace in Japan in 2015, installing 245 MW in 2015 compared to 140 MW in 2014. Cumulative installations crossed the 3 GW mark at the end of 2015.

Offshore wind power capacity reached 52.6 MW with a total of 27 turbines in Japanese waters. In 2015, one Siemens 3MW turbine was installed about 100m offshore from the Akita port. Japanese wind farms produced 5.268 TWh of electricity last year, which is about 0.5% of electricity supply in 2015.

JWPA promotes wind power development in Japan and is making consistent efforts to achieve its target of 36.2 GW by 2030. Japan has installed 3 GW at the end of 2015.

There are 2.3 GW of new wind power projects that have almost finished the lengthy EIA process and have acquired FIT approval. Presently, 6-7 GW of new projects have begun the EIA process.