Mitsui acquires 50% stake in Yushan Energy

TAIWAN: Japanese general trading company Mitsui has acquired a 50% stake in the Taiwanese branch of Yushan Energy, thereby also purchasing a 20% stake in the 1GW Hai Long offshore wind projects.

by David Weston 6 August 2018

Mitsui COO of infrastructure project business unit Yoshio Kometani (left) and Ian Hatton, chairman of Enterprize Energy Group, Yushan Energy parent company

Yushan Energy Taiwan is developing the 1,044MW Hai Long cluster of offshore wind projects in the Taiwan Strait in partnership with Canadian energy firm Northland Power.

The developers received 20-year support from Taiwanese authorities in April and June to construct the 532MW Hai Long 2 and 512MW Hai Long 3 projects.

Mitsui, Northland and the Singapore-based parent company Yushan Energy will continue to develop the projects, all of which are due online in 2025. A final investment decision is expected in 2021, Mitsui said.

Mitsui said roughly 16% of its operating power generation capacity was from renewable sources "and steps are being taken to further increase this ratio".

Through its Engineering and Shipbuilding (MES) business unit, Mitsui is involved in the Fukushima Forward floating project in Japan. And in May 2017, it signed a with floating foundation engineer Principle Power.

MES is also part of the development company behind a 23.8MW onshore wind project in Akita prefecture in northern Japan.