The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) have issued a joint statement on energy security cooperation.
The two countries have pledged to work together to diversify energy supply sources “through the advancement of clean energy technologies particularly offshore wind and reducing our dependency on fossil fuels”.
Japanese companies are already investors in the UK renewables sector, and the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also announced today that Japanese companies would invest £17.7 billion in the UK.
As part of the investment across multiple sectors, Downing Street said that “Sumitomo Corporation intends to expand its UK offshore wind projects, leading to a total investment of £4 billion in projects off the coasts of Suffolk and Norfolk alongside its partners”.
This follows a previous announcement by Sumitomo Electric Industries that they would build a high voltage cable manufacturing plant in the Scottish Highlands, which is projected to bring £200 million in investment and create 150 highly skilled green jobs.
This investment was also championed last week at the All Energy conference in Glasgow by Scottish First Minister Humza Yusuf and Energy Minister Gillian Martin.
Octopus Energy, which has already been investing in the Japanese market, also said it was committed to investing £1.5 billion in the Asia-Pacific energy market by 2027.
“UK consultancy Mott MacDonald has also secured a major contract to help develop a state-of-the-art offshore wind farm in western Japan that could power more than 175,000 homes with clean energy,” Downing Street said.
DESNZ said the UK would “increase renewable energy development and deployment through enabling policy, enhancing technology innovation, and facilitating finance environment. We reaffirm the G7 collective contribution to expanding renewable energy globally and bringing down costs by strengthening capacity including through a collective increase in offshore wind capacity of 150GW by 2030 and a collective increase of solar PV to more than 1TW by 2030”.
Greg Jackson, founder of Octopus Energy Group, said, “International cooperation is the key to creating an energy transition which benefits consumers and economies as well as the climate. Our partnership with Tokyo Gas has grown ever stronger and I’m delighted to be bringing even more investment to Japan and into the UK”.
“Linking our businesses in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore to the UK and Europe, our operations in Japan have helped create a unique global technology ecosystem benefiting everyone. I’m excited to take it even further with today’s announcement,” Jackson said.
Responding to the announcement, Drax Group chief executive Will Gardiner said, “We are already operating in Japan and are committed to supporting the country in its decarbonisation journey. We do so by providing a secure, reliable, renewable energy option in the form of sustainable biomass.”
“Sustainable biomass is helping Japan accelerate the transition away from fossil fuel power generation and playing a crucial role in delivering the country’s Nationally Determined Contributions and Green Growth Strategy. It could also help pave the way for carbon removals in the future.”
