SSE Renewables makes deal to enter Japanese offshore wind market
29 September 2021 Salma El Mallah
SSE Renewables has signed an agreement with Pacifico Energy, one of Japan's largest developers of renewable energy, to create a joint ownership company that will pursue offshore wind energy development projects in the country.
The deal involves the acquisition by SSE Renewables of an 80% interest in an offshore wind development platform from Pacifico Energy.
The transaction includes the transfer of up to 20 Japan-based employees from Pacifico Energy to the newly-created offshore wind company, who will be complemented by SSE Renewables employees.
The deal also includes a number of early-stage offshore wind development projects geographically spread across Japanese waters, which are expected to use a mixture of fixed and floating technology and are working towards being selected for future auctions.
The two most advanced projects have secured grid access and advanced local stakeholder engagement has been undertaken.
The new entity will progress its 10GW portfolio of early stage development opportunities, with the most advanced aiming to enter bid rounds before or in the mid-2020s.
SSE Renewables has the largest offshore wind pipeline across UK and Ireland at 7GW and claims to currently be leading the construction of more offshore wind than any company in the world.
It has a renewable output target of 30TWh a year by 2030, which it expects to exceed, reaching a run rate of at least 1GW of new assets a year during the second half of this decade.
Japan now joins Spain, Portugal, Denmark and Poland as being markets where SSE Renewables is actively looking to develop offshore wind projects.
This acquisition could lead to further development options in the East Asian market, which is expected to deploy up to 140GW of offshore wind by 2050.