Shell holds stakes in offshore wind companies in Japan and the Philippines

Shell has been doing business in the offshore wind market for a while now, with a portfolio of projects in different stages in Europe, the Americas, and South Korea. The latter is not the only country in the Asia Pacific region where Shell is eyeing to build wind farms at sea, however, as the oil and gas major holds stakes in at least three offshore wind companies in Japan and the Philippines.

In its annual results for 2022, released this week, Shell has once again listed subsidiaries and other related undertakings, including businesses that the company owns directly and those held through its business divisions, as well as companies wholly owned by Shell and those held jointly with partners.

Among the many offshore wind project companies in which the British oil giant holds stakes are also three located in two more countries in the Asia Pacific region, where Shell has so far been active in this industry only in South Korea.

According to the list, the company has held an 80 per cent stake in Fukuoka Offshore Wind Power No. 1 K.K (Ltd) since 2021, according to information available online and published in Shell’s annual results for the previous year.

Since last year, Shell also owns 50 per cent in a company named Ajigasawa Offshore Wind Power Generation K.K in Japan, as well as in an offshore wind-dedicated company in the Philippines, named Tablas Strait Offshore Wind Power Corporation, where Shell holds 39 per cent.

Our sibling site offshoreWIND.biz has contacted Shell via email for more details on the company’s offshore wind plans in the two countries and its partners in Japan and the Philippines. The company is yet to respond.

According to the World Bank’s Offshore Wind Roadmap, released last year, the Philippines has the potential to deploy as much as 21 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2040 and 40 GW by 2050.

In November 2022, the country’s resident Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. gave a green light to the Department of Energy to proceed with its plan to explore and develop the offshore wind potential in the Philippines.

The president’s move came following the Department of Energy’s report that there were 42 approved offshore wind contracts with an indicated capacity of 31 GW, with strong interest from the private sector, including developers from Denmark, Norway, and the UK.

In Japan, there is about 128 GW of bottom-fixed offshore wind potential and 424 GW of floating offshore wind potential, according to the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC).

The Japanese government has set a target of 10 GW of offshore wind by 2030 and 30-45 GW by 2040, with a few auctions already completed and more coming up.

In January this year, the country saw its first commercial-scale offshore wind farm, the 140 MW Akita Noshiro, going into operation.