Marubeni Corp and its partners have signed a project finance agreement with banks to build and operate offshore wind farms in northern Japan, the Japanese trading house said on Monday.
Marubeni
said the 100 billion yen ($921 million) plan to build the wind farms
with 140 megawatt capacity at Akita Port and Noshiro Port in Akita
prefecture was expected to be Japan’s first large-scale commercial
offshore wind power project.
The work, expected to be completed
in 2022, includes building offshore turbines fixed to the seafloor, as
well as onshore substation and transmission lines.
Noshiro Port will be the base for operations and maintenance, it said.
Loan
agreements to finance the project were secured with domestic and
foreign financial institutions. MUFG Bank Ltd, Mizuho Bank Ltd, and
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp jointly acted as the mandated lead
arrangers, Marubeni said.
A Marubeni spokeswoman declined to give a value for the project finance.
Power
from the wind farms will be sold to Tohoku Electric Power for 20 years
under a power purchase agreement based on the feed-in tariff program.
Marubeni’s
12 partners include Obayashi Corp, Tohoku Sustainable & Renewable
Energy Co, Cosmo Eco Power Co, Kansai Electric Power Co, and Chubu
Electric Power Co.
