JERA says on track to meet 2025 renewable energy goal
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Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp
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TOKYO, May 31 (Reuters) - Japan's biggest power generator JERA is on track to meet its 2025 target of holding five gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy assets after its recent acquisitions of two energy companies, Chairman Yukio Kani said on Wednesday.
JERA said it has agreed to buy Parkwind, Belgium's largest offshore wind platform, in March, and announced a deal this month with Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) (9432.T) to jointly purchase local renewable energy firm Green Power Investment.
"With the deals, our renewable assets that are in operation or under construction grow to 3.1 GW, with a pipeline of over 10 GW, making us one of Asia's leading renewable players," Kani told a news conference, adding its 5 GW goal was "well within reach".
Companies in energy-poor Japan are competing to increase their shares of renewable energy as the government strives for the country to be carbon-neutral by 2050.
Japan's biggest oil refiner Eneos Holdings
(5020.T)
said earlier this month its renewable energy, primarily solar and wind, should reach 6 to 8 GW by 2040 from less than 1 GW now.
Aside from renewables, JERA is one the world's biggest buyers of liquefied natural gas (LNG). In the financial year ended in March, it bought a record 7 million tonnes on spot market, company President Hisahide Okuda said.
That accounted for a quarter of its total procurement volume of 28 million tonnes and was up from spot purchases of 4.5 million tonnes a year earlier.
"It was truly an emergency," Okuda said, pointing to a surge in spot prices in light of the Ukraine war and the supply disruption risk from Russia's Sakhalin-2 LNG project.
"But we managed the risk by making the best use of our fuel trading unit, which generated healthy profit as it received considerable business inquiries from European players," he said.
Although Asian spot LNG prices have fallen, Okuda said the market was still "unpredictable," citing a possible demand increase from China after the end of zero-COVID regulations and the risk of a colder winter.
Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; editing by Barbara Lewis
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Wednesday, May 31, 2023 at 2:02 pm