Japan: Japan could benefit from EU experiences as study points to challenges in its offshore wind rules

A recent study commissioned by the European Commission concludes that due to regulatory shortcomings in the offshore wind energy sector, Japan may struggle to reach its ambitious goals to increase the proportion of renewables in its energy mix and achieve climate neutrality by 2050.

EU Ambassador-Designate to Japan Jean-Eric Paquet said, "It is clear that Japan could learn from the experiences of the European Union (EU) in offshore wind, a key component of Europe's green transformation." Underlining the importance of EU-Japan cooperation, Ambassador-Designate Paquet added that "The EU - Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) provides a comprehensive framework to work together for our mutual benefit. Japan has indicated its willingness to work with the EU, and we are looking forward to achieving concrete results in the near future."

According to the study, Japan should ideally take measures to streamline and simplify the requirements regarding standardisation and certification to align with EU best practices and to speed up the adoption process of international standards. A clearer separation of tasks related to regulation, accreditation and conformity assessment would avoid duplicative requirements and red tape and alleviate any doubts of conflict of interest between the different actors.

The study was undertaken by the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and the Renewable Energy Institute (REI) of Japan. It is the first in the series of three studies commissioned by the EU Delegation to Japan that are related to the offshore wind energy sector. Studies on tendering and access to vessels are expected to be published shortly.

The full text of the study: "Standards, technical regulation and conformity assessment in the Japanese and European offshore wind power market: current implementation and best practices"