Starting Signal for the Expansion of Offshore Wind Energy in Japan

Tokyo, Japan - Marubeni Corporation announced that, through a special purpose company called Akita Offshore Wind Corporation, it has decided to implement the construction, operation and maintenance of offshore wind farms at Akita Port and Noshiro Port in Akita Prefecture.

Marubeni will implement the project jointly with Business Partners like Obayashi Corporation, Tohoku Sustainable & Renewable Energy, Cosmo Eco Power, Kansai Electric Power or Chubu Electric Power.The loan agreements were concluded this week, on February 3rd, 2020. The Offshore Wind Farms are comprised of the bottom-fixed offshore wind farm and the onshore substation and transmission lines and together are expected, according to Marubeni, to be the first large-scale offshore wind power project in Japan established on a commercial basis. The Loan consists of project finance provided by multiple domestic and foreign financial insitutions with MUFG Bank, Ltd., Mizuho Bank, Ltd. and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation jointly acting as the joint mandated lead arrangers.

Marubeni participated in Akita Prefecture’s “Public Offering for the Offshore Wind Farm Project” for the purpose of expanding the introduction of renewable energy and industrial development and was selected as the potential main owner/operator on February 5, 2015. Thereafter, Marubeni has established the AOW in which the Joint Business Partners have also decided to invest, carried out a feasibility study and reached a decision to implement the Offshore Wind Farm Project.

The Offshore Wind Farm Project is a project to construct, operate and maintain the offshore wind farms with a capacity of 140 MW. The electric power produced with the wind farm ist to be sold to Tohoku Electric Power for 20 years under a power purchase agreement based on the feed-in tariff program. The construction of the onshore substations and transmission lines are expected to start in February 2020 and the commercial operations are expected to start in 2022. During operation, Noshiro Port will be the base port for operations and maintenance.

As part of its activities to promote sustainability, Marubeni issued a notification in September 2018 on its business policy in the area of sustainability, which is intended to support solvations regarding global climate change. Against this background, Marubeni intends to further expand its business activities in the field of renewable energies worldwide.

Source: IWR Online, Feb 02 2020