Sumitomo-led consortium to bid for offshore wind power project in Akita

East Japan Railway

29/05/2020 10:54

TOKYO, May 29 (Reuters) - Japanese trading house Sumitomo
Corp  8053.T  said on Friday it and seven other Japanese firms
have formed a consortium to jointly bid at a planned auction for
an offshore wind power project near the cities of Noshiro,
Mitane and Oga in Akita, northern Japan.
    The partners in the Sumitomo-led consortium are Inpex Corp
 1605.T , Japan Petroleum Exploration  1662.T , and TEPCO
Renewable Power, a unit of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings
 9501.T , JR-East Energy Development, a unit of East Japan
Railway  9020.T  and three other firms engaged in wind power
generation in Akita.
    Sumitomo has been conducting talks with local communities,
environmental impact assessments, seabed surveys, wind condition
studies since 2018 and the consortium will prepare for
submitting a bid and other processes toward commercialization, a
spokesman said.
    The wind farm is expected to have a power generation
capacity of up to 480 megawatts and is aimed to start operating
in 2026.
    Japan's offshore power market is expected to take off after
the government last year brought in a law to encourage the
development of wind farms.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N27F0FS
    The government has identified 11 areas as potentially
suitable for development, four of which were designated as
promising.
    The Noshiro, Mitane and Oga is one of the four promising
areas.
    
    

 (Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
 ((Yuka.Obayashi@thomsonreuters.com; +813-4563-2761;))