Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the offshore wind developments in Japan are going fast. With the Japan Wind Power Association (JWPA) predicting 6GW of fixed turbine wind farms and 4GW of floating turbine wind farms to be operational by 2030, and the upcoming tenders, Japan offers huge opportunities for offshore wind companies.

In Japan, the Netherlands is recognized as a reliable partner for offshore wind cooperation. Since 2014, Holland Home of Wind Energy (HHWE), supported by the Dutch government, has built up a widespread network within the Japanese offshore wind industry at many levels. Some Dutch companies already secured contracts, for instance related to vessel design & installation equipment. Considering the recent development and future prospects in Japan, there exist many opportunities for Dutch companies that can offer innovative concepts for foundations and installation work.

Preparations for tenders are in full swing. Japanese shipyards have already build installation vessels and local contractors are looking for experienced partners to team-up with. Because of all these developments in the offshore wind market in Japan, the Wind Expo Tokyo (WET) organizer decided organize a second Smart Energy Week, of which the WET is part, in 2021, this time taking place from September 29 – October 1, 2021. To further explore the opportunities for the Dutch wind sector and generate visibility within the Japanese wind sector, HHWE intends to organize a joint NL Netherlands Lounge at this edition of the Wind Expo Tokyo as well. We still don’t know if traveling to Japan will be possible again at that time, therefore the Smart Energy Week organizer decided to organize this exhibition again in hybrid form, which means there is both a physical and virtual exhibition.

HHWE did attend and organize a NL Netherlands Pavilion at the March 2021 edition of the WET, and since the participants were very pleased with this hybrid exhibition form, which for most of them had a lot of added value in building/further expanding their network in Japan and even new leads were created. With the help of on site support and translators, participants from the Netherlands can be put in direct contact with physical booth visitors. And changes are high a lot of physcial visitors will be present at the physcial exhibition, as was evident from the visitor numbers of the March edition, which was held duren the state of emergency in Japan: more than 28,000 physical visitors were welcomed during the three exhibition days.