Reconstruction of aging wind power plants will soon have the wind at its back, as the Environment Ministry plans to simplify part of the environmental impact assessment procedures to speed the process.
Currently, the same procedures are required for constructing a new plant and rebuilding an existing one if the output is 50 megawatts or more.
Under the plan, simplified procedures will apply if the locations of wind turbines and other structures and the scale of power generation do not substantially change.
A bill to revise related legislation is expected to be submitted to the current Diet session.
Ministry officials expect that proposed changes will accelerate replacement of onshore wind power plants that were built around 2000 and later and are coming up for renewal.
Wind is expected to become a key source of renewable energy in Japan’s goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
But wind power generation has failed to expand as much as anticipated.
Wind power plants also face a backlash over the deaths of birds hitting turbine blades and the felling of trees for developing plant sites.
There are concerns that renewal of wind power plants could stall if environment impact assessment procedures are too time-consuming.
Specifically, the ministry plans to streamline a “document on primary environment impact consideration,” which is submitted in the first of three stages of assessment procedures.
While the document must include comparisons of multiple operational plans under certain conditions, the revisions will reduce the amount of necessary information.
The ministry said reconstruction of existing plants is unlikely to produce an additional impact on the environment.
No changes are planned for documents that are submitted in the remaining two stages: a “draft environmental impact statement” and an “environmental impact statement.”
An expert panel under the ministry will also consider simplifying environment impact assessment procedures to promote construction of new wind power plants in suitable locations.
Tsuneo Sekijima, a professor of ecosystem management at Niigata University who serves on the panel, said discussions are necessary on appropriate methods to determine the need for environment impact assessments for specific projects.
“The problem is not wind power generation itself but where to build plants,” he said.