(Founding members of Rera Tech Inc.: from left: Konagaya, Uchiyama, Mito, and Misaki)
Offshore wind power is being introduced all over the world, especially in Europe. It is expected to expand in Japan, which is surrounded by sea on all sides, and is said to be a trump card for making offshore wind a major source of renewable energy in the "Offshore Wind Power Industry Vision" announced by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
As the domestic market becomes more and more popular, Rera Tech Inc. was established as the only R&D venture company in Japan specializing in offshore wind power, spun out of Kobe University. We provide consulting services related to wind condition surveys, such as wind condition observations, numerical simulations, and data analysis for wind power generation projects, primarily to private companies.
The founding members of Rera Tech Inc. talk about the value they want to provide through their business.
- Founding Member Profile
- Connecting research institutes and private companies. Supporting private companies as offshore wind power professionals.
- What Rera Tech Inc., a company specializing in offshore wind condition surveys, can contribute
- We want to lead the domestic market by conducting offshore wind condition surveys suited to Japan.
Founding Member Profile
CEO: Mizuki Konagaya
After graduating from the University of Tsukuba Graduate School (Meteorology and Climatology), he worked for 10 years as an environmental consultant, mainly engaged in consulting work related to renewable energy. Since 2016, he has been enrolled in a doctoral program at Kobe University Graduate School, and is currently conducting research on offshore wind condition surveys. He serves as the representative director of Rera Tech Inc., a Kobe University-based venture company established to provide consulting services specializing in wind condition surveys for wind power generation, making use of the skills and connections he gained during his time at the company and while studying there.
Takeshi Misaki
He studied at Kobe University Graduate School of Maritime Sciences, where he researched how to improve the accuracy of offshore wind simulations using meteorological models, and obtained a PhD in Engineering. After working in systems management for waste incineration plants at Hitachi Zosen Corporation, he worked on wind condition surveys for domestic offshore wind power projects at Tokyo Electric Power Company Design Co., Ltd. He is currently in charge of wind condition analysis and simulation work, and also serves as an academic researcher at Kobe University.
Toshinari Mito
He majored in geographical and environmental science at Tokyo Metropolitan University (formerly Tokyo Metropolitan University), and based his knowledge of geography (humanities, vegetation, climate, topography, geology, hydrology, etc.), he acquired geographic information science (GIS, etc.) for analyzing these and weather simulations, etc. After graduating, he worked for about seven years as an environmental consultant, mainly engaged in consulting work related to renewable energy. In his work, he carried out a wide range of wind observation and analysis work, including LIDAR for wind power generation development, and also conducted multiple research projects related to LIDAR.
Shogo Uchiyama
While studying at Kobe University's Graduate School of Maritime Sciences, he was involved in projects with NEDO and the Ministry of the Environment, where he developed a method for estimating offshore wind conditions by combining observed values and numerical simulations. He is currently working in a doctoral program in the same department, developing simulation methods specialized for meso- to micro-scales. At the same time, he is employed at a power generation company, where he is involved in onshore and offshore wind condition analysis and project development both in Japan and overseas, as well as wind turbine selection and procurement, and project certification. In this project, he will not only contribute technically, but will also be involved in investigating industry needs and formulating strategies.
Connecting research institutions and private companies.
Supporting private companies as offshore wind power professionals
───Please tell us the background to the establishment of Rera Tech Inc.
Konagaya:First, in terms of market trends, for the past 15 years or so, it has been said that offshore wind power is expected to be the renewable energy of the future, but behind this, private power generation businesses have been slow to get started. It was only around 2020 that full-scale offshore wind power generation began to move forward. However, because it is a new field, there were almost no experts who could support private companies in their offshore wind power generation businesses.
All four founding members of Rera Tech Inc. have experience in consulting and research and development related to renewable energy, including offshore wind power. They all have a track record of research on offshore wind condition surveys, and are among the few offshore wind power professionals in Japan.
The domestic market size for offshore wind power generation is expected to grow to 2030 billion yen by fiscal year 9200. With the offshore wind power generation market finally getting going, we established Rera Tech Inc. in November 2020 with the hope of becoming a platform that provides specialized support to private companies, government agencies, and local governments.
Misaki:We thought, "There must be something we can do because we have specialized in offshore wind power at university and have repeatedly put it into practice in the private sector." The other members seemed to feel the same way, and when the three of us, including Konagaya and Uchiyama, got together in May 2020, we got excited and said, "There are a lot of things we can do and do." From there, the concrete idea of starting a business began to take shape.
Mito:Rera Tech Inc. provides consulting services for onshore as well as offshore wind power generation, but the reason we present ourselves as a "consulting company specializing in offshore wind power" is largely due to the presence of Professor Teruo Ohsawa of Kobe University, who is a leading figure in the domestic market as a researcher of meteorological simulations for offshore wind power development. He serves as a technical advisor to Rera Tech Inc..
Uchiyama:Although cutting-edge research and survey know-how is constantly being developed at universities, there is inevitably a time lag before it can be applied to private companies. By developing the business with the help of Professor Osawa as a technical advisor, we are able to quickly provide offshore wind power research and survey know-how to private businesses.
Konagaya:This is where our reason for being a venture company spun out of Kobe University lies, and we hope to act as a liaison between university research institutes and private companies.
What Rera Tech Inc., a company specializing in offshore wind condition surveys, can contribute
--- Specifically, what types of requests do you receive most often when it comes to offshore wind power generation?
Misaki:We mainly receive requests for wind condition surveys from wind power generation companies, with 8 to 9 percent of our inquiries coming from private companies. Our impression of offshore wind power is that in the past two to three years, new power companies and trading companies have been entering the field in addition to existing wind power generation companies. We also receive many inquiries from companies that want to develop offshore wind power generation businesses, but have no experience in the wind power generation business and are not sure how to proceed.
Konagaya:For private companies that find it difficult to acquire specialized technology and knowledge in-house, Rera Tech Inc. offers solutions based on three main pillars.
- "Wind observation" prior to the introduction of new wind power generation
- "Wind condition simulation" to understand wind conditions around the development site
- "Wind analysis" using observation and simulation results
Depending on the client's challenges and objectives, we can handle partial or complete projects.
Uchiyama:The most important thing about wind power generation is to build wind turbines in places where the strongest winds are possible and to accurately grasp where and how strong the wind is blowing. Wind observation is particularly important when borrowing from banks for hundreds of billions of yen in offshore wind power generation, as it is necessary to accurately calculate the amount of electricity generated by wind power generation.
Mito:Compared to onshore wind power, offshore wind power is larger in scale and it is difficult to measure wind accurately. This is why more specialized knowledge and advanced technology are required, and we would be happy to demonstrate our value as a group of offshore wind power experts.
Konagaya:We would like to be a consultative presence for companies considering offshore wind power generation projects. We will provide consulting services to power generation companies and others that will enable them to provide low-cost, highly accurate, and cutting-edge methods for assessing offshore wind conditions.
We want to lead the domestic market by conducting offshore wind condition surveys suited to Japan.
---You seem to have a strong desire to provide cutting-edge know-how to private companies.
Uchiyama:As an issue of domestic energy security, we want to change, even if only little by little, our current reliance on imports from overseas. In order for Japan to continue to be a country that can supply safe and secure electricity in the future, we need to increase the amount of energy we can produce domestically. We hope that renewable energy and offshore wind power can play a part in that.
Misaki:It is said that the Japanese market is 20 years behind Europe, where offshore wind power generation is becoming more widespread. Therefore, it is true that Europe is much more mature in terms of technology. However, it is difficult to reproduce their success stories exactly as they are in Japan.
The reason is that the environments in Japan and Europe are different. For example, in Europe, the winds are generally strong and the terrain is flat and shallow, making it easy to build wind power plants offshore. On the other hand, in Japan, there are very few shallow sea areas and the water quickly becomes deep, so it is necessary to establish technology to build offshore wind power plants suitable for Japanese seas.
Uchiyama:In other words, how can we conduct wind surveys that are suited to Japan? This is an important issue. We need to accumulate know-how suited to the unique topography and environment of Japan, a country surrounded by sea on all sides, and put in place a system that will enable the country to meet its own energy needs. I believe that this is an important role we will play in the future.
Konagaya:Onshore wind power generation in Japan has a history of more than 20 to 30 years, but offshore wind power generation has still yet to come. The current situation is that there are no companies that specialize in offshore wind power generation, and few people who are conducting specialized research. That is why Rera Tech Inc. hopes to lead the market as a domestic offshore wind power specialist.
(Interviewer/Writer: Misato Kaizu; Editor: Hisae Sasaki)
The second part is here.