Japan picks three winners in 2nd offshore wind power tender (updated)
13/12/2023 12:30
(Adds details, comments)
By Yuka Obayashi
TOKYO, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Japan's industry and land
ministries on Wednesday picked three consortia, including one
featuring Germany's RWE RWEG.DE and its partners, to operate
offshore wind farms in the second round of a public auction.
They said they would award a fourth wind farm that was part
of the tender at a later date.
The results of the second major round under a new law to
promote wind power were closely watched by energy companies at
home and abroad, after the first round was dominated by
Mitsubishi Corp 8058.T .
Japan's offshore wind power market is set to grow as the
government aims to have 10 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind farm
deals by 2030, and up to 45 GW by 2040, as part of its
decarbonisation push.
The winner of a 315-megawatt (MW) wind farm off the coast of
Oga-Katagami-Akita in Akita prefecture in northern Japan was a
consortium of JERA, Electric Power Development (J-Power)
9513.T , Itochu 8001.T and Tohoku Electric Power 9506.T .
Another consortium of Mitsui & Co 8031.T , RWE and Osaka
Gas 9532.T won a 684 MW wind farm off the coast of
Murakami-Tainai in Niigata prefecture in northern Japan.
A third group of Sumitomo Corp 8053.T and Tokyo Electric
Power's 9501.T renewable power unit won a 420 MW wind farm off
the coast of Enoshima in Nagasaki prefecture in southwestern
Japan.
The three projects are all bottom-fixed type wind farms and
scheduled to start operation between June 2028 and August 2029.
The JERA consortium and the Sumitomo group plan to use
Vestas VWS.CO wind turbines, while the Mitsui consortium plans
to install General Electric GE.N turbines.
Two to four groups bid on each of the three blocks. The
winners achieved the highest evaluation score in terms of
bidding price and business feasibility among other criteria,
said Takahiro Ishii, director of the wind energy policy office
at the industry ministry.
"We have selected the best plans to help achieve Japan's
2030 energy mix goal and curb the public burden of the renewable
energy levy," he said.
The ministries plan to announce the winner of the remaining
356 MW farm off the coast of Happo-Noshiro in Akita prefecture
in March 2024, as revisions to the plan are needed by the
potential operator because the timing of the use of a port
overlapped with another Akita project.
(Reporting by Yuka Obayashi
Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Mark Potter)
((Yuka.Obayashi@thomsonreuters.com; +813-4520-1265;))