BPhas agreed to form a strategic partnership avec Japanese conglomerate MarubeniThis will concentrate on offshore wind developments and possibly look into “other projects for decarbonisation, such as hydrogen.”

BP will purchase a 49% share in the offshore wind project that was proposed to be built off Japan’s coast. Wednesday’s announcement from the energy company did not provide details on how large or when it might be constructed.

It stated that the agreement was subject to approvals by merger control. BP plans to establish a “local offshore wind team” in Tokyo.

Japan’s government has set a goal to produce 10 gigawatts offshore wind power by 2030. The goal of the Japanese government is for 30 to 45 GW offshore wind by 2040. Japan’s 6th Strategic Energy Plan outlines an ambitious outlook. It envisions that renewable energy will account for between 36% and 38% of the country’s power generation mix by 2030.

It also wants to become carbon neutral by 2050. To achieve this goal, Japan will need to significantly accelerate low-carbon technology deployment by 2030. It must also address institutional and regulatory barriers to increase energy market competition.

According to the IEA, “It is also important to devise different decarbonisation scenarios, and to be ready for the possibility, that some low-carbon technology, like nuclear, may not grow as rapidly as hoped.”

A number of Japanese companies have recently developed plans for offshore wind.  

RWE Renewables, Kansai Electric Power announced an agreement in August 2021. This would allow them to “jointly examine the feasibility” of large-scale offshore floating wind projects off Japan’s coastline.

In a statement issued at the time, RWE Renewables’ Sven Utermöhlen said his company saw “great potential for floating wind farms worldwide — but especially in countries with deeper coastal waters, like Japan.”

In June 2016, Japanese officials announced that a group of six companies was selected by Japanese authorities to build a floating 16.8-megawatt offshore wind farm off the coast from Nagasaki Prefecture’s Goto City. The project was closed to other bidders.

BP, a large producer of oil and natural gas, stated that its goal is to become a netzero company before 2050. It is among many large companies to have pledged net-zero in the recent past.

These commitments are often viewed as a big deal, but actually accomplishing them is difficult with many logistical and financial hurdles. It’s all in the details and sometimes the goals are too vague.

This month BP CEO Bernard Looney offered some insight into his firm’s strategy,It was referred to as “greening” company because it is carbon-intensive but plans for a zero-carbon future.

His comments — made during a panel discussion in Cairo, Egypt, moderated by CNBC’s Hadley Gamble — are likely to have raised eyebrows in some quarters at a time when a number of governments have declared a climate emergency.

Looney stated that three requirements were required to meet the “pivot to renewable energy” criteria. They included: Cleaner, more reliable, and cheaper. Looney said the issue was complicated. 

Looney stated that “what we must get to” is a world in which only a handful of things occur. “Number 1: Our objective is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We don’t need to defend ideologic positions on ‘hydrocarbons’.

“Our goal is to reduce carbon emissions. If burning natural gas instead of coal lowers emission, then that’s a step we need to take.”

Looney emphasized his point by saying hydrocarbons “are such a large part of today’s energy system that it was difficult to envision how they would change overnight.

He stated, “If that energy is to be affordable, because we desire this energy transition loop, then we need to invest in hydrocarbons” and added that the company was doing this.