Tokyo Gas has withdrawn from an offshore wind project planned in the port area of Kashima Port in Ibaraki Prefecture, the company said on the 5th. President Shinichi Sasayama disclosed the decision at a news conference that day.
The project was being advanced by Wind Power Energy, a company based in Kamisu, Ibaraki Prefecture, in which Tokyo Gas and others hold stakes. The plan called for 19 turbines and a plant with a generating capacity of about 160,000 kilowatts.
The prefecture said the same day that it had ordered Wind Power Energy, the project operator, to halt the project on October 30, judging that it could not be expected to continue.
Setback for national targets
The withdrawal removes one of the projects meant to carry Japan's offshore wind build-out, and it comes after the prefecture concluded the plan could not proceed. Japan has been counting on offshore wind to replace fossil fuel generation and meet its decarbonization goals.
Tokyo Gas gave no reason for the decision in the announcement, and Sasayama's remarks at the news conference beyond the withdrawal were not disclosed.