Canadian company Northland Power is planning to set up an office in Japan this year to support its offshore wind activities in the Asian country.
Northland chief executive Mike Crawley (pictured) told reNEWS on the sidelines at the Global Offshore Wind Summit in Taipei that the company does not have any specific targets for offshore wind development in Japan, but will use the office to establish partnerships in the country.
He said the company will hire local staff, but declined to give any numbers.
The Japan office will also collaborate with the company’s existing Asian base in Seoul.
Northland is already developing about 1GW of offshore wind in Taiwan and is planning a similar volume in South Korea in the future.
Industry insiders in Japan expect the government to kick off the country’s first offshore wind auction in 2020, with the methodology to be announced later this year.