Scotland launches renewables hub in Japan

The new energy hub has been created in order to allow Scottish companies easier access to renewable energy market in Japan.

The centre called ‘Scotland House’ will be based at the Nagasaki Dejima Incubator (D-FLAG) in the south-east of Japan.

The space is available for free to Scottish companies and stakeholders while they build relationships with the Japanese offshore renewables and marine energy sector, Scottish government’s press release reads.

The Japanese government has pledged over £200 bln in funds to assist the transition to new forms of power and is looking to deregulate the Japanese electricity market in order to speed up the development of new sources of power.

Therefore, the Scottish government has identified renewable energy as growth opportunity for Scottish businesses to share their expertise with the Japanese.

The hub was officially launched by the Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs Fiona Hyslop during a visit to Nagasaki.

Hyslop said: “The Japanese government now sees offshore renewables as one of the potential solutions to replace the 25 percent of electricity previously provided by their 53 nuclear power stations.

“Our objective is to use Scotland’s expertise to help the Japanese harness the vast energy wealth and the multiple benefits renewables can offer – reducing our carbon emissions, creating jobs and investment and improving energy security.”

As reported earlier, the government of the Nagasaki prefecture plans to develop a testing site for renewable marine energy to aid research and development of this sector. The testing sites are expected to create 50 jobs and secure regular customers by 2022, and will be based on Goto islands.

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Image: Scottish Government