By Yuka Obayashi
TOKYO (Reuters) -Chubu Electric Power said on Tuesday its C-Tech unit is still reviewing the feasibility of domestic offshore wind projects with its partner and aims to complete the assessment around this summer.
In 2021, Mitsubishi Corp, together with C-Tech, was selected to develop three offshore wind projects in Akita and Chiba prefectures, with a total planned capacity of 1.76 gigawatt (GW) and a targeted startup between 2028 and 2030.
However, in February this year, the two companies said they were reassessing the projects due to a “significantly changed” business environment, underscoring that the country is not immune to rising costs affecting offshore wind projects globally.
Mitsubishi booked a 52.4 billion yen ($352 million) loss from the three projects in the business year ended March 31, while Chubu Electric booked an 18.6 billion yen loss, amid higher construction costs, yen depreciation, tight supply chains, and rising interest rates.
“The timeline for completing the feasibility reassessment around this summer remains unchanged,” said Takehide Horibe, manager of the corporate administration department, at an earnings news conference.
Chubu Electric booked an additional loss of several hundred million yen in the April-June quarter for personnel and other expenses from the three projects.
Asked about the impact of U.S. tariffs, he said industrial power demand in the Chubu region — central Japan where Toyota Motor is headquartered — was unchanged from the same period last year and in line with its earlier projections.
“The impact so far has been minimal,” he said.
For the April-June quarter, the utility posted a 14.3% drop in net profit to 85.3 billion yen, hit by higher costs in its power retail unit and lower contributions from JERA’s overseas and renewable energy businesses. JERA is jointly owned by Chubu Electric and Tokyo Electric Power.
($1 = 148.6900 yen)
(Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; editing by Giles Elgood)
