RCG appoints Okahara to guide Japan’s offshore wind growth

Tokyo, Japan – The Renewables Consulting Group, an ERM Group company, has appointed offshore wind energy specialist Yoshinori Okahara as a Director in the firm’s Tokyo office.

The appointment will help support the firm’s in-country efforts as the Japanese offshore wind market is currently a hotbed of activity with offshore wind auctions being launched and projects and alliances moving forward. For example, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry recently announced four offshore wind promising areas – and up to 10 potential areas that require further study – as part of the country’s carbon neutrality plan. Japan aims to build 10 GW of installed capacity by 2030 and 30 GW to 45 GW by 2040.

Okahara will play a central role in supporting RCG’s growth in Japan and internationally as well as developing new revenue opportunities for RCG within Japan and the wider Asia Pacific region. He is also expected to provide leadership with the emerging requirement for owner’s engineering and other renewable project life cycle services.

He has more than 30 years’ experience in civil engineering construction sector with project management, construction management, design, schedule control, risk management, and trouble-shooting roles for both international and Japan domestic projects. Before RCG, Okahara served as acting general manager at Taisei Corporation, where he oversaw the company’s offshore wind program among other duties.

Commenting on the appointment, Gareth Lewis, managing director for the Asia Pacific (APAC) region, said:

“He is joining RCG at an opportune moment as Japan’s offshore developers will be preparing for auctions, securing consents and designing and procuring equipment. With Okahara-san’s extensive offshore experience in other sectors, he brings a wealth of relevant knowledge to the offshore wind sector.” Gareth Lewis – Managing Director, APAC

RCG’s continued growth means the firm can deploy experienced local teams on any renewable energy engagement, backed up by a team of international experts, to deliver high-value market intelligence, management consulting and technical advisory services on any renewable energy assignment in the Asia-Pacific region.

Tokyo, Japan – The Renewables Consulting Group, an ERM Group company, has appointed offshore wind energy specialist Yoshinori Okahara as a Director in the firm’s Tokyo office.

The appointment will help support the firm’s in-country efforts as the Japanese offshore wind market is currently a hotbed of activity with offshore wind auctions being launched and projects and alliances moving forward. For example, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry recently announced four offshore wind promising areas – and up to 10 potential areas that require further study – as part of the country’s carbon neutrality plan. Japan aims to build 10 GW of installed capacity by 2030 and 30 GW to 45 GW by 2040.

Okahara will play a central role in supporting RCG’s growth in Japan and internationally as well as developing new revenue opportunities for RCG within Japan and the wider Asia Pacific region. He is also expected to provide leadership with the emerging requirement for owner’s engineering and other renewable project life cycle services.

He has more than 30 years’ experience in civil engineering construction sector with project management, construction management, design, schedule control, risk management, and trouble-shooting roles for both international and Japan domestic projects. Before RCG, Okahara served as acting general manager at Taisei Corporation, where he oversaw the company’s offshore wind program among other duties.

Commenting on the appointment, Gareth Lewis, managing director for the Asia Pacific (APAC) region, said:

“He is joining RCG at an opportune moment as Japan’s offshore developers will be preparing for auctions, securing consents and designing and procuring equipment. With Okahara-san’s extensive offshore experience in other sectors, he brings a wealth of relevant knowledge to the offshore wind sector.” Gareth Lewis – Managing Director, APAC

RCG’s continued growth means the firm can deploy experienced local teams on any renewable energy engagement, backed up by a team of international experts, to deliver high-value market intelligence, management consulting and technical advisory services on any renewable energy assignment in the Asia-Pacific region.

London, England – The Renewables Consulting (RCG), an ERM Group company, is strengthening its capabilities and service offerings in the rapidly growing floating offshore wind sector.

As floating offshore wind continues to emerge as a utility-scale option for markets with deep-water seabed areas, the technology has rapidly expanded in the past two years as developers, offtakers and governments are embracing more innovative technology concepts at a large scale.

The first competitive tender for a commercial scale floating sites is currently underway in France, while more projects are set to be offered in competitive processes in Scotland and Norway later in 2021, with plans to lease projects in California also ongoing. Development of new projects of over 100 MW in capacity across at least eight different countries to date has shown floating technology to be a viable power generation option in a wide range of environments.

RCG is active with several key floating wind initiatives:

• In collaboration with European Marine Energy Centre and Innosea, RCG explored opportunities for the Scottish Government for the floating offshore wind and hydrogen supply chains in Scotland and France.
• The Global Offshore Wind Health and Safety Organisation has tasked RCG and its partner companies Tadek and EMEC, in supporting G+ in assessing the health and safety risks associated with future global commercial floating developments.

In response to rapidly expanding market conditions and client requests, RCG has added to its professionals ranks. Yiwen Lu joins RCG as Senior Associate bringing with her a track record of floating offshore wind due diligence and project development. She has been involved in a range of international onshore, offshore and floating wind projects from UK, Europe, Asia Pacific and North America. Our newest Associate, Max Peel, has a background including research into the levelised cost of hydrogen and offshore wind cost modelling.

RCG’s latest floating wind hires – Yiwen Lu and Max Peel.

Dan Kyle-Spearman, Associate Director and RCG’s Floating Offshore Wind Lead, said:

“Floating wind technology has proven itself to be a viable power generation option in a wide range of environments. It is a technology with huge potential and is about to boom. Yiwen and Max joining the team will further add strength to our growing offshore wind team. RCG is well-positioned to support clients to realise commercial opportunities in the floating wind market.” – Dan Kyle-Spearman, Floating Offshore Wind Lead.

RCG is a leading full-service provider of floating offshore wind advisory services globally. Our expertise covers the full floating offshore wind value chain, from development, through construction, to asset management and decommissioning. We think of floating offshore wind as power at scale – technology with the potential to deliver a global energy transition.

ERM has developed the award-winning ERM Dolphyn concept, a first of a kind technology combining electrolysis, desalination and hydrogen production on a floating wind platform – with the hydrogen transported to shore via pipeline. It is an economic and scalable solution, which produces green hydrogen with no carbon emissions at the point of use.

ERM’s Dolphyn concept, combining electrolysis, desalination and hydrogen production on a floating wind platform.

 

London, United Kingdom – The world’s largest pure-play sustainability advisory firm, ERM, announces the acquisition of RCG (The Renewables Consulting Group) – a global market intelligence, management consulting, and technical advisory firm operating exclusively in the renewable energy sector.

The acquisition expands ERM’s capabilities to support clients across the entire lifecycle of large-scale renewable energy projects, from market intelligence and strategy development through to the development, construction, operations, and decommissioning of projects. It further strengthens the firm’s ability to advise clients on the purchase and sale of renewable energy assets, and adds deep sector experience in offshore wind projects.

The team of RCG grows ERM’s +5,500-strong firm by approximately 60 experts, based in Europe, the Americas and Asia-Pacific. RCG’s leadership team joins the ERM partnership.

ERM continues to expand and diversify its market presence through acquisitions. The deal marks ERM’s sixth acquisition announced in 2021, including related acquisitions in next-generation low-carbon technology advisory, and renewables consulting.

Keryn James, CEO, ERM said: “Our purpose is to shape a sustainable future with the world’s leading organizations. Navigating the new opportunities presented by renewables and low-carbon technologies is central to this ambition. With the acquisition of RCG, we are in an even stronger position to help our clients unlock the enormous potential of the clean energy revolution. We warmly welcome the talented RCG team to the ERM Group.”

Sebastian Chivers, CEO, RCG said: “From the outset, our vision for RCG has focused on building the most respected firm in renewable energy consulting, globally. Becoming part of the ERM Group will help us accelerate that vision and become a global leader for our clients in the energy transition. The backing of ERM will allow us to take the business to the next level.”

Lee Clarke, COO, RCG said: “We already have a track record of successfully collaborating closely with ERM across global markets and have shared values and ways of working. Operating together as a single team unlocks competitive advantage for clients throughout the project lifecycle.”

 

London, England – More than 200 GW of new offshore wind projects have been announced since the beginning of 2020 – accounting for more than 44% of all global capacity at the pre-construction or early development phase, according to the 2020 Global Offshore Wind Annual Market Report issued today from The Renewables Consulting Group (RCG).

Despite a global pandemic, 2020 was a year of substantial milestones for global offshore wind. With new projects announced from Colombia to Brazil in the Americas, Spain to Estonia in Europe and Australia to the Philippines in the APAC region, the technology has been adopted by markets at contrasting levels of socio-economic development and distinct geographies. New projects exceeding 500 MW in capacity were announced in Spain, Ireland, Norway, Taiwan, South Korea, Italy, Brazil and Vietnam through to early 2021. Technology continues to emerge as floating offshore wind continues to emerge as a utility-scale option for markets with deep-water seabed areas.

While offshore wind enjoyed a transformative year for market growth, new policies, and targets, fostering development at a government level and ongoing installation across all regions, there remain significant challenges to the industry in meeting ambitious targets and enabling the realisation of projects in the pipeline beyond 2030.

Supply chain constraints across all regions, as well as undefined development frameworks and route to market mechanisms, will limit deployment of capacity across the sector through to 2030. The rate of deployment in the near-term should not be underestimated, however the ambition of government authorities and investors may exceed sector capability in some areas.

Source: RCG’s Global Renewable Infrastructure Projects (GRIP) database*
* Note: Q1 2021 update. Recent project announcements bring the active global portfolio to 510.5 GW

Commenting on the Global Offshore Wind: Annual Market Report, RCG’s COO, Dr Lee Clarke said:

“This year’s Annual Market Report is an invaluable data source and its findings clearly demonstrate that global offshore wind continued to its impressive growth in all sectors during 2020. With a steady and predictable framework, we continue to see positive developments emanating from emerging markets, such as in the APAC and the Americas regions. The ongoing maturation of technology and declining costs for offtake have inspired governments and investors to embrace offshore wind, with many authorities touting offshore wind as a cornerstone to a green economic recovery in the wake of a global recession.” – Lee Clarke, COO

There are five key takeaways from RCG’s latest 2020 Global Offshore Wind Annual Market Report:

1. Record year for capacity investment

The total capacity financed for offshore wind in 2020 reached 8,370 megawatts (MW) across the European, Americas and Asia Pacific (excl. China)* regions, eclipsing the previous total of 6,438 MW financed in 2018. Global investment for offshore wind also set new highs last year as investment reached USD 30 billion, surpassing the previous high of USD 22 billion set in 2018.

2. APAC portfolio set to overtake EMEA by year-end

For the first time, the APAC market portfolio has surpassed the EMEA region in project development capacity. For the first time, the UK – the market leader – will lose its No. 1 global offshore ranking by the end of the year to Vietnam and China, respectively.

Vietnam, with just 99 MW of inter-tidal capacity operational, sports a massive development pipeline of 64.9 GW. Vietnam’s early-stage development capacity is almost entirely comprised of projects proposed under the recent national power development plan (PDP8). Of the offshore wind farms proposed under the PDP 8, many have not disclosed site characteristics beyond prospective capacity. It is therefore expected that large projects located in areas of prominent resources will overlap. As result of potential overlapping boundaries, as well as other constraints such as grid availability and demand, it is unlikely all projects will advance to operation.

China, which has 8.5 GW of offshore wind operational and 30.2 GW underdevelopment – is in second place with a total portfolio of 63.6 GW. Project commissioning took place at an unprecedented rate during 2020. The offshore wind feed-in-tariff (FiT) supporting rapid development and installation timelines is due to expire in 2022, with no new subsidy mechanism announced to date. Developers, meanwhile, race to install projects by the commissioning deadline.

3. Floating wind continues to emerge

Floating offshore wind continues to emerge as a utility-scale option for markets with deep-water seabed areas. The floating market expanded rapidly in 2020 and early 2021, embracing more innovative technology concepts at a large scale. The first competitive tender for a commercial scale floating sites is currently underway in France, while more projects are set to be offered in competitive processes in Scotland and Norway later in 2021, with plans to lease projects in California also ongoing. Development of new projects of over 100 MW in capacity across at least eight different countries to date has shown floating technology to be a viable power generation option in a wide range of environments.

4. Leasing/route to markets framework

Leasing headlines for the year were dominated by the results of the Round 4 auction for new sites in England and Wales. The cost-based competitive allocation drew in bids from oil and gas majors exceeding £230 million per year in option fees. The explosion of growth in the portfolio capacity of projects in the APAC region was encouraged by the prospect of new leasing rounds and offshore wind frameworks. However, not all projects will proceed beyond an auction round and there is heavy risk associated with pre-tender project development. The success of offshore wind allocation frameworks has encouraged the formulation of new policies supporting development in markets such as Brazil, Sweden, Ireland, Australia, Spain, Romania, Greece and Vietnam.

5. Americas show future promise

As new project announcements in the United States stalled in 2020, the Brazilian market flourished with over 31GW of new projects announced throughout the year and into 2021. Despite a slowdown in federal permitting and new leasing in the last year of the Trump presidency, state authorities issued solicitations for offtake contracts in New Jersey and New York. The first project installed in federal waters, the 12 MW CVOW demonstrator, was commissioned by Dominion Energy in October 2020. The development and operations of the project will inform the build out of the adjacent 2.64GW CVOW offshore wind farm. Other project developers also advanced sites, with construction and operations plans submitted for three projects on the north-eastern coast of the country. There was also increased interest in pursuing offshore wind projects off the coasts of California, Louisiana and Oregon. The development and operations of the project will inform the build out of the adjacent 2.64GW CVOW offshore wind farm.

Offshore wind projects were explored in both Colombia and Chile in 2020. Local onshore renewables developer Prime Energia submitted plans for a 200 MW project near the Port of Cartagena to Colombian authorities in late December, while turbine supplier GE announced it was exploring floating opportunities off the Chilean coast in September.

The data and the analysis compiled for this report were compiled from RCG’s GRIP 2.0 online database. For more information about GRIP 2.0 and how to subscribe, visit thinkrcg.com/data-services/

London, England – The Renewables Consulting Group (RCG) has launched the next generation of its proprietary Global Renewable Infrastructure Projects (GRIP) database platform.

Featuring new functionality and enhanced features, GRIP 2.0 provides the market’s most authoritative source for essential offshore wind project data and forecasts. It provides critical data, updated in real time, on a platform that is easy-to-use and which can be targeted toward client needs.

 

RCG’s sophisticated and tailored market modelling and understanding of levelised energy costs allows clients to benchmark projects, build merit orders, and compare public data with their proprietary information. We combine our database and geographic information system (GIS) services to manage, interrogate, and present data. Our team of subject matter experts can work with you to customise our reliable and flexible data to meet your specific needs, delivering it in the format you require.

The online database allows users to query and extract data by country, project, participant, status, associated infrastructure, assets, among many other items and permits in-depth comparisons and other types of data analysis.

Commenting on the product’s enhancement, market intelligence expert Sebastian Rae, Associate Director, said:

“GRIP 2.0 turns data into valuable insights. Through GRIP 2.0, we are delivering a new way of accessing data and forecasts that will give our customers faster and higher quality information to support growth in their businesses.” – Sebastian Rae, Associate Director

We apply our analytical workflow to assess the quality of the data before incorporating information into our proprietary databases and forecasting models. Add to the mix the knowledge and industry foresight of the highly experienced team at RCG and you have at your fingertips high quality information you can rely on to support the growth of your business.

Dynamic forecast from RCG’s GRIP 2.0 dashboard.

GRIP Offshore Wind is a dynamic tool that provides the following:

• A solution that is tailored to your organisation’s requirements
• Customisable search functionality
• Verified project, supply chain and market data
• Wide-ranging dashboards and downloadable summary charts
• Exportable database searches to .xls
• RCG’s proprietary expenditure, commissioning, installation and manufacturing forecast

For more information about GRIP 2.0 and how to subscribe, visit thinkrcg.com/data-services/