Page 4 - AsiaElec Week 36

AsiaElec COMMENTARY AsiaElec

Equinor is the latest global

name to take part in Japan’s

first offshore bid round

Japan needs to foster fast wind offshore expansion if it is to catch
up with regional leaders, writes Richard Lockhart

JAPAN NORWAY’S Equinor has teamed up with JERA renewables, with a 25% interest in the UK’s 173-
and J-Power to bid in Japan’s first offshore wind MW Gunfleet Sands wind farm. It aims to take
WHAT: tender, where up to 1.1 GW of offshore capacity as major role in the Japanese offshore sector, lev-
Equinor, JERA and will be up for grabs. eraging its experience gained in the European
J-Power are to team up The three companies are to take part in the wind markets.
to bid for offshore wind Japanese government’s first bid round, which is It is also a major investor in Taiwan, where it
licences in Japan offering two locations in Akita Prefecture. The is the partner of Macquarie’s Green Investment
first is offshore Noshiro City, Mitane Town, and Group (GIG) and German utility EnBW in the
WHY: Oga City, while the second is offshore Yurihonjo 2-GW Formosa 3 wind farm.
Tokyo is putting up to City. Equinor has the most extensive wind expo-
1.1 GW of capacity out to “We have joined forces with JERA and sure, with 600 MW in the UK, the US North East
tender J-Power, two strong local partners, to partic- and in the Baltic Sea in its portfolio. It also claims
ipate in Japan’s first offshore wind auction and to be the leading floating offshore developer, and
WHAT NEXT: develop what could potentially be Equinor’s first operates the 30-MW Hywind wind farm in Scot-
Japan is keen to make offshore wind farm in Japan,” said Equinor sen- land, the world’s first floating wind farm.
use of Equinor and JERA’s ior vice-president for business development Jens “The opportunities, long-term, are within
global experience Økland. both bottom-fixed and floating offshore wind,
The upcoming auction is anticipated to start as waters in Japan are on average deeper than
within the next months, Equinor said, with bid in other parts of the world. With Equinor being
submission taking place six months after the the leading floating offshore wind developer, we
auction opens. have the competence and technical skill needed
Once the auction is closed, the results are and are ready to contribute long term to the
expected to be announced towards the end of country’s ambitious offshore wind plans,” says
2021. Potential wind farms would then tenta- Økland.
tively be operative post 2025. Equinor aims to have 4-6 GW of wind capac-
ity by 2026, which would require 30% growth per
New entrants year over the next six years. By 2035, it aims to
J-Power is the only member of the group cur- have 12-16 GW.
rently operating wind farms in Japan, with 530
MW of net capacity at two onshore areas in Fossil fuels
Akita Prefecture. It is also a shareholder in the All three partners have considerable fossil fuel
220-MW Kitakyushu Hibikinada offshore wind exposure, with Equinor producing 2.074mn bar-
farm. The deal represents an extension of its Jap- rels per day (bpd) of oil per year, and both JERA
anese operations. and J-Power being major investors in gas-fired
JERA and Equinor are two new entrants to power plants at home and abroad.
the Japanese markets. For example, in August JERA and India’s
JERA is a joint venture between major power Reliance Power secured a $642mn loan for
generators TEPCO and Chubu Electric Power their LNG-fired thermal power plant (TPP) in
that was originally set up to import LNG. Bangladesh.
It is mainly an LNG importer, reporting a Indeed, Japanese utilities such as JERA are
net profit of JPY137.8bn ($1.26bn) for April to facing pressure from investors on one side
September 2019, largely deriving from strong and environmental activists on the other to
earnings from LNG trading. reduce their exposure to coal and to invest in
However, it has now branched out into renewables.

P4 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 36 09•September•2020