Fukushima City
26 April 2023: Minister President Hendrik Wüst meets the Governor of Fukushima Prefecture Masao Uchibori
North Rhine-Westphalia and the Japanese prefecture of Fukushima are continuing their economic cooperation. They will also cooperate in the future on forward-looking technologies in the field of hydrogen and ammonia. Economics and Climate Protection Minister Mona Neubaur and the Governor of Fukushima Prefecture Masao Uchibori signed a joint declaration of intent to this end in Düsseldorf on Wednesday, April 26, 2023.
The Fukushima governor said that Japan’s Fukushima Prefecture and the western German state have agreed to broaden their cooperation in renewable energy to include hydrogen technology.
The collaboration with North Rhine-Westphalia comes as the northeastern Japanese prefecture aims to reduce its dependence on nuclear power following the 2011 nuclear disaster at a plant there triggered by a massive earthquake and tsunami.
During his trip to Europe, Fukushima Gov. Masao Uchibori signed a memorandum to include hydrogen and ammonia in their cooperation to promote renewable energy, further enhancing a relationship formed in 2014.
This month, Germany completed its nuclear phaseout by shutting down its last three reactors. Renewable energy accounted for about 50 per cent of total power generation in the country last year, and it plans to expand the ratio further.
Meanwhile, Fukushima aims to meet energy demand in the prefecture entirely with renewable sources by around 2040.
“We cannot remain the ‘nuclear accident site’ forever,” Uchibori said at a meeting Wednesday with German state officials in Dusseldorf, stressing the importance of creating a new industry.
He also said hydrogen would be one of the keys to realizing a decarbonized society.
Minister Neubaur was quoted at the signing: “North Rhine-Westphalia and Japan are facing similar challenges in the transformation of the economy. I am pleased that we are deepening the good and trusting cooperation with Fukushima Prefecture in renewable energies and medical technology. We are now also cooperating on forward-looking hydrogen and ammonia technologies. Renewing the Memorandum of Understanding is an important step in further developing the partnership. It contributes to achieving ambitious climate protection goals and jointly advancing the energy transition.”
Technologies related to hydrogen and ammonia offer great potential on the road to climate neutrality and are now part of the Memorandum of Understanding between North Rhine-Westphalia and Fukushima. Based on the agreement, further concrete partnerships between companies and research institutions on both sides may be established in the future. The cooperation will be closely supported by the state company NRW.Energy4Climate and the foreign trade promotion company NRW.Global Business.
Background
The cooperation with Fukushima Prefecture arose from the prefectural government’s efforts to support the prefecture in reconstruction and economic revitalization following the so-called triple disaster in 2011. The Uchibori government focuses on meeting the prefecture’s energy needs entirely from renewable sources by 2040. Numerous measures and projects have already been initiated to this end. As a result, the region is now considered one of Japan’s pioneers in renewable energy. In addition to the cooperation with Fukushima Prefecture, the NRW government maintains collaborations with Tokyo Prefecture to support the internationalization of small and medium-sized enterprises and Osaka Prefecture in hydrogen/fuel cells and batteries.
Picture: By BehBeh at Japanese Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=37055740
