Carbon Trust working on Japanese marine energy test centre
The Nagasaki Asia Marine Energy Centre will help Japan examine the possibility of widespread deployment of marine energy technology throughout the country, with the facility hoped to help establish a full service testing facility for both domestic and international markets, while also encouraging wider collaboration with the Nagasaki industrial cluster.
The Carbon Trust has led engagement with international stakeholders as part of the consortium project, commissioned by the Nagasaki Prefecture Government, in order to ensure the project is attractive to the renewable energy market outside of Japan, with the UK firm also working closely with both the Wind Energy Institute of Tokyo and the Nagasaki Marine Industry Cluster Promotion Association.
David Sanders, Director of Innovation at the Carbon Trust, highlights how the organisation is exited to have been selected to support the “important” project.
“Over the last 15 years the Carbon Trust has developed significant experience in helping to develop marine energy and offshore wind industries,” he said.
“We believe this project has significant potential for the Japanese renewables sector and is a step in the right direction in demonstrating how global collaboration can translate to delivering tangible innovation.”
Japan has pledged to produce 22-24 per cent of its total power generation from renewables by 2030; with the government’s energy policy defining marine renewables as one of the higher priority technologies, earmarking the Nagasaki test site as “an important measure to secure the future of the marine energy sector” in the country.
Mr. Takaaki Morita, Director Marine Industry Development Office, Nagasaki Prefecture Government, believes the creation of the energy centre is an important step to accelerate development of ocean renewable energy in Japan, as well as to create a new marine industrial cluster in Nagasaki.
“Having the support from the Carbon Trust, which has accumulated valuable expertise in both tidal energy and offshore wind, we trust that the Nagasaki Asia Marine Energy Centre will be successfully realised,” he said.
The Nagasaki Asia Marine Energy Centre is currently under construction, with the project hoped to be fully operational from 2018.
