Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) have entered into a joint venture to develop offshore wind projects off the coast of Hokkaido, in Japan.
The 50:50 joint venture will comprise a team of staff from both owners.
MHI and CIP said they have “high ambitions to be significant parties in the Japan offshore wind market”, which is expected to experience “significant” growth.
MHI energy systems president and CEO Kentaro Hosomi said: “MHI’s partnership with CIP, a company with extensive experience in offshore wind projects in the world, is a very meaningful starting point for MHI’s offshore wind generation business, which is one of our growth strategies.”
MHI has established a presence within offshore wind via the joint venture MHI Vestas Offshore Wind, which has delivered turbines in Europe and is expanding its business to emerging markets in the Asia Pacific.
The partnership with CIP will enable MHI to participate in its domestic offshore wind market as part of the group’s growth strategy, focusing on the entire offshore wind value chain.
CIP is a global fund management company within renewable infrastructure investments established in 2012, having seven funds with approximately €10bn under management, investing in offshore wind, onshore wind, power transmission, biomass, energy-from-waste and solar projects.
CIP entered the Japanese renewable energy market in 2018.
Hosomi added: “MHI is excited to develop the offshore wind generation business through partnership with CIP and by leveraging MHI’s long experience in the wind turbine OEM business and onshore wind generation business in Japan and overseas.”
CIP partner Michael Hannibal said: “We are excited to announce the partnership with MHI for the joint development in the Hokkaido area.
“This is an ideal partnership combining the expertise of the partners. MHI brings innovative technical solutions and extensive local knowledge where CIP brings global state of the art offshore wind development and investment experience to the partnership.”