Japan budgets $68m for offshore

JAPAN: The Japanese government has announced plans to spend JPY 7.9 billion ($67.8 million) on offshore technologies this year, according to reports in the Japanese press.

by David Weston 16 January 2015

A 2MW floating turbine has been operating off Fukushima since 2013

According to media reports in Japan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government has put aside JPY 131 billion – of the JPY 96.3 trillion 2015 budget – for renewable technologies. Offshore wind technology will recieve 6% of this budget. 

The money will be used to develop technologies related to offshore wind. Solar and geothermal technologies also get a slice of the money. 

In April 2014, the government introduced fixed offshore wind power tariffs at JPY 36/kWh ($0.35/kWh).

The push for renewables in Japan follows the devastating tsunami in 2011, which damaged nuclear reactors at Fukushima causing a radiation leak and a rething to national energy policy.

A Marubeni-led consortium is planning to install a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries on a floating foundation off the coast of Fukushima in February.