Strengthening Ties between Japan and Denmark

By State of Green | [email protected]

6 March 2014

The partnership is an important step for Denmark towards closer cooperation with the world’s third largest economy and one of the central players in Asia. Areas of focus comprise welfare technology and life sciences as well as agriculture and food. Furthermore, the partnership paves the way for stronger ties within energy and the environment as well as research and innovation, including a higher degree of knowledge-sharing between academia and business life, and also a focus on the maritime industry.

Green growth, climate, energy and the environment

Liberalisation of the Japanese energy market is in preparation and initiatives that strengthen the green sectors have been passed. These are strong signs of Japan’s green direction, not least coupled with the fact that Japan since July 2012 has had some of world’s highest feed-in tariffs, which are fixed for the next 20 years (i.e. long-term contracts to producers of renewable energy, typically a subsidy granted to compensate for higher costs of production). The framework conditions are thus in place for long-term investment security.

Moreover, solar power in Japan also has some of the world’s highest feed-in tariffs. Between July 2012and February 2013 several projects have been approved, which will increase the share of renewable energy in Japanese electricity production by 41%.

Building on a strong foundation of wind

Despite wind energy only contributing with less than 0.5% of total energy production in 2011, the assessment is that wind can cover around 10% of Japan’s electricity needs by 2050. The joint venture between Danish Vestas and Japanese Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is a strong sign of collaboration and a solid bedrock to further develop wind energy between the two countries.

Thinking SMART and saving energy

Japanese Information, Communication and Technology companies (ICT) are investing heavily in smart grid and home electronic management systems. Because the average Japanese citizen consumes about 10% more than his/her European counterpart, there is great potential for Danish companies to provide technological products and know-how, both in the area of smart grid technology but also in terms of energy efficiency – from both a citizen consumption and green building perspective.

Pushing district heating and cooling

Use of district heating and cooling in Japan is practically non-existent. Total installed capacity in Japan only comprises 1/5 of the capacity in Denmark, even through Japan’s population is 25 times greater. Danish companies and engineers hold great resources in this area, and reference projects will be initiated to showcase Danish solutions.

Joint research on bioenergy

Japan has had an official bioenergy strategy since 2002, which was revised in 2013 to include that 8 cities must establish new biomass power plants, where the government will cover up to 50% of the expenses. Danish R&D projects, bioenergy systems and solutions will be showcased and shared with Japan through increased collaboration in research and technological development.

The Danish ministries behind the strategic partnership are: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Business and Growth, the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Building, the Ministry of Higher Education and Science, the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries and the Ministry of Health.

Source: The Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs

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