Photo/Illutration Wind turbines set up for Japan’s first large-scale offshore wind farms are seen from Noshiro Port on Aug. 18. (Hisashi Naito)

AKITA--Towering wind turbines the height of 40-story buildings dot the waters off the coast of Akita Prefecture, an indication that construction of Japan’s first large-scale offshore wind farms has entered the homestretch.

Although the project has proceeded as scheduled, the total cost of the wind farms is expected to be a hefty 100 billion yen ($729 million). And questions remain over who will end up covering the costs.

The 33 bottom-mounted wind turbines being built at two sites off Noshiro and Akita ports are expected to help ease power shortages in winter.

Each turbine stands about 150 meters from sea surface to blade tip.

The developer, Akita-based Akita Offshore Wind Corp. (AOW), said it has started a test run.

“We will probably start commercial operations by the end of November,” AOW President Keiji Okagaki said during an Aug. 18 explanatory session.

AOW’s shareholders include major utilities and construction companies, with leading trading house Marubeni Corp. at the core.

Okagaki is a former Marubeni employee.

The farms will be capable of generating a total of about 140 megawatts of electricity, enough to power around 130,000 average homes, AOW said.

The company began construction in 2020 and installed the first turbines off Noshiro Port in July this year.

AOW has also been installing turbines off Akita Port since late August so that all turbines at the two sites can enter commercial operations before year-end, Okagaki said.

“Producing results will help to raise funds (for the future),” he said. “It will serve as a springboard to expand the introduction of offshore wind generation (in Japan).”

There have been no major delays for the project. Heavy rain and the novel coronavirus pandemic have had a limited impact.

Using the government’s feed-in tariff system for clean energy, AOW intends to sell electricity generated at the offshore wind farms to major utilities at 36 yen per kilowatt-hour to secure profits.

Offshore wind farms are already common in Europe and elsewhere, and they are believed to have helped reduce costs for renewable energy.

The Japanese government has set a goal of introducing offshore wind farms capable of generating a maximum of 45 gigawatts, equivalent to 45 nuclear reactors, by 2040.

But the main obstacle for the widespread introduction of offshore wind farms in Japan is the high cost, according to Okagaki.

Developers need technology to build wind turbines suitable to Japan’s environment, where the seabed topography and wind patterns are different from those in Europe

However, there are no Japanese manufacturers with the expertise to make wind turbine components for such an environment.

For AOW’s wind farms, 80 percent of the components, such as blades and shafts, are imported from Europe and China. Their large size makes them costly to transport from abroad.

It is possible that these costs will be passed on to electricity bills of consumers.

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