Floating Wind Farms and Flexible Solar Cells: Koike’s Plan to Redraw Tokyo’s Energy Map

Tokyo is looking beyond its crowded urban core to the strong winds around its remote Pacific islands as it searches for greater energy resilience. Governor Yuriko Koike told The Straits Times that the metropolitan government plans to install floating offshore wind turbines around the Izu Islands, targeting gigawatt-scale capacity.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government administers 219 islands stretching hundreds of kilometres into the Pacific, although only 11 are inhabited. For Japan, a resource-poor country that relies heavily on imported fossil fuels, Koike described the islands as an untapped green frontier. “Offshore wind power generation carries vital significance for our energy security,” she said. “We are moving forward with plans to install floating offshore wind turbines on the waters surrounding the Izu Islands, aiming for the introduction of gigawatt-class capacity.”

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Offshore wind power generation carries vital significance for our energy security.

On land, Koike is promoting next-generation perovskite solar cells known as “Air-Solar.” The ultra-thin films can bend around building facades and turn windows and walls into generating surfaces. They use iodine, a material Japan produces at the world’s second-highest level after Chile, with a 30% share of the global market. Tokyo became Japan’s first prefecture to require solar panels on newly built single-family homes from April 2025, and the policy helped it reach municipal energy-storage targets two years early.

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We are moving forward with plans to install floating offshore wind turbines on the waters surrounding the Izu Islands, aiming for the introduction of gigawatt-class capacity.

The capital is also building toward a hydrogen economy. After launching its first major green-hydrogen production facility in late 2025, the metropolitan government began studying pipeline networks around Haneda International Airport and coastal logistics hubs. It wants to expand a fleet of about 150 fuel-cell buses into 5,000 commercial hydrogen vehicles, including trucks and taxis, by 2030.

Koike has made energy security and climate adaptation central parts of her gubernatorial legacy, following her earlier role in launching Japan’s “Cool Biz” campaign. Tokyo is pairing clean-energy deployment with infrastructure designed to withstand extreme weather and earthquakes. With more than 100 power-hungry data centers already operating in the city, the administration argues that localized green power will increasingly be necessary for economic growth. “Industries and communications are undergoing a revolutionary transformation led by artificial intelligence,” Koike said, before noting that the article’s interview ended as she described the test facing Tokyo.

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Industries and communications are undergoing a revolutionary transformation led by artificial intelligence.