Page 11 - AsiaElec Week 11

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TEPCO, Ørsted JV moves into offshore Japan
JAPAN
JAPAN’S TEPCO and Denmark’s Ørsted have completed the formation of a joint venture with a view to bidding in Tokyo’s first offshore wind tender.
TEPCO is taking a 51% stake in the venture, with aims to win rights to offshore capacity in the Choshi city offshore area.Ørsted will hold the remaining 49% interest.
The deal is the final step in TEPCO and Ørsted’s joint efforts to take advantage of Tokyo’s belated efforts to developing offshore wind.
Offshore wind forms a central part of TEP- CO’s ambitions of developing 7GW of renewa- ble capacity worldwide, as it pivots away from its core business of fossil fuel generation and power supply in the Japanese market.
The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding in January to work jointly on offshore wind projects
The deal was Ørsted’s first in Japan, and build on the company’s large-scale offshore wind development projects in Europe, the US and Taiwan.
“We’re confident that the partnership com- bining TEPCO’s extensive expertise in the Jap- anese power business and Ørsted’s unparalleled track record in the offshore wind business will
lead to success in the Choshi project,” TEPCO president Tomoaki Kobayakawa said in January. Offshore expansion in Japan is now making waves after Tokyo includes 10GW of wind capac- ity by 2030 in its Fifth Basic Energy Supply Plan, dated July 2018. This called for the country’s elec-
tricity to be 24% green by 2030.
“TEPCO is aiming to make renewable energy
a core generating source by developing 6-7GW of renewable energy projects in Japan and over- seas. The partnership with Ørsted will provide us with a very strong platform to scale up our renewable energy business as one of our main pillars of business growth,” he added.
Ørsted currently has 2.4GW of offshore wind under construction or under development in neighbouring Taiwan, and aims to use its exper- tise to move into Japan.
Across Asia Pacific (APAC), total investment in the offshore wind sector surpassed Europe for the first time in 2019.
Research from the Renewables Consulting Group (RCG) found the financial closure was declared for $10bn of investment in APAC, driven by Taiwan, Japan and Vietnam, while investment in Europe, previously the leading global region, stood at just over $5.5bn.™
EDF seals Chinese offshore wind deal
CHINA
CHINA Energy Investment Corp. (China Energy) has confirmed that France’s EDF is joining it in developing 502MW of offshore wind capacity at two sites at a cost of $1.13bn in east- ern China’s Jiangsu Province, the first major for- eign investment in offshore wind in the country.
China Energy is to take a 62.5% stake in the project, while EDF will hold 37.5%. It will be jointly financed, built and operated by the two companies, China Energy said this week.
The two signed final contracts for the 7.9bn yuan ($1.13bn) joint venture, which is devel- oping the 302-MW Dongtai IV and 200-MW Dongtai V projects, which when both are fully operational will provide a maximum of 1.39 TWh per year. This is equivalent to 441,900 tonnes of standard coal and will satisfy the annual electricity demand of almost 2mn people, China Energy said.
The projects are located close to Dongtai City. Dongtai IV was grid-connected in December 2019 and is now fully operational. Dongtai V is now under construction and is set for commis- sioning in early 2021.
EDF said in its 2019 annual report that the projects were located 40 km from the Jiangsu coast at average water depths of 6 metres. The Dongtai IV turbines were supplied by Shang- hai Electric under licence from Siemens and Envision.
In March 2019, EDF and China Energy signed a co-operation agreement in Paris for the two projects. In August 2019, the two partners signed final joint venture agreements, subject to the finalisation of the commercial aspects.
The latest deal confirms that EDF has joined the project company in charge of financing, building and operating the Dongtai IV and Dongtai V projects.
As well as offshore wind, EDF also holds a majority stake in UPC Asia Wind Management, which is developing 2,000MW of wind and solar projects in China, with an additional 213MW under construction and 433MW in operation.
Across the wider power sector, EDF is build- ing two 1,750-MW EPR nuclear reactors at Tais- han, and currently operates 2,000MW of coal capacity at Fuzhou.™
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