Renewable Energy Institute released "Socioeconomic Analysis of Offshore Wind Power Development in Japan" (originally published in Japanese on 11 October).
At the end of 2021, the total offshore wind power generation capacity installed worldwide reached 56GW. Intensification of investment has also driven down costs. Given the increasing severity of climate change and energy security issues, there are high hopes for offshore wind power as a new utility-scale technology, as it will also attract large-scale investments and form a broad supply chain.
Development is also underway in Japan, and developers for projects of a total capacity of around 1.7GW have been selected so far. Concrete action has started on the supply chain side too, including construction of domestic production facilities, building of new ships for construction work, and the launch of training courses to nurture human resources. To make steady progress on the large-scale deployment of offshore wind, it is desirable to quantify and visualize the economic impact of offshore wind, and to clarify more concretely how the energy transition will coexist with other industries and local communities.
This report examines the benefits of offshore wind power development in Japan by analyzing the overall domestic socioeconomic ripple effects of constructing and operating offshore wind power facilities. Economic and employment ripple effects are assessed for each stage of construction and operation. In addition, assuming that offshore wind will replace thermal power generation, the report investigates the economic and employment ripple effects, as well as the impact on CO2 emissions.
<Table of Contents>
Introduction
1 Setting analysis goals and an adoption scenario
1-1 Goals of the socioeconomic analysis
1-2 Setting a scenario for adoption of offshore wind power
1-3 Analysis goals and methods
2 Analysis of the socioeconomic ripple effects of offshore wind power development
2-1 Analysis of the ripple effects of offshore wind power construction
2-2 Analysis of the ripple effects of offshore wind power operation
2-3 Analysis of the effects of replacing thermal power with offshore wind power
3 Conclusion
3-1 Reflections on the ripple effects of offshore wind power
3-2 Challenges in offshore wind power deployment
At the end of 2021, the total offshore wind power generation capacity installed worldwide reached 56GW. Intensification of investment has also driven down costs. Given the increasing severity of climate change and energy security issues, there are high hopes for offshore wind power as a new utility-scale technology, as it will also attract large-scale investments and form a broad supply chain.
Development is also underway in Japan, and developers for projects of a total capacity of around 1.7GW have been selected so far. Concrete action has started on the supply chain side too, including construction of domestic production facilities, building of new ships for construction work, and the launch of training courses to nurture human resources. To make steady progress on the large-scale deployment of offshore wind, it is desirable to quantify and visualize the economic impact of offshore wind, and to clarify more concretely how the energy transition will coexist with other industries and local communities.
This report examines the benefits of offshore wind power development in Japan by analyzing the overall domestic socioeconomic ripple effects of constructing and operating offshore wind power facilities. Economic and employment ripple effects are assessed for each stage of construction and operation. In addition, assuming that offshore wind will replace thermal power generation, the report investigates the economic and employment ripple effects, as well as the impact on CO2 emissions.
<Table of Contents>
Introduction
1 Setting analysis goals and an adoption scenario
1-1 Goals of the socioeconomic analysis
1-2 Setting a scenario for adoption of offshore wind power
1-3 Analysis goals and methods
2 Analysis of the socioeconomic ripple effects of offshore wind power development
2-1 Analysis of the ripple effects of offshore wind power construction
2-2 Analysis of the ripple effects of offshore wind power operation
2-3 Analysis of the effects of replacing thermal power with offshore wind power
3 Conclusion
3-1 Reflections on the ripple effects of offshore wind power
3-2 Challenges in offshore wind power deployment
