Britain's SSE Renewables enters Japan's offshore wind market

LONDON (Reuters) - SSE Renewables, part of UK energy company, has reached an agreement with Japan’s Pacifico Energy to create a joint venture for the development of offshore wind projects in Japan, it said on Wednesday.

The creation of the joint ownership company involves the acquisition by SSE Renewables of an 80% interest in an offshore wind development platform from Pacifico Energy, one of Japan’s largest developers of renewable energy.

The joint venture will drive offshore development activities in Japan and acquire of a number of early-stage offshore wind development projects.

These early-stage projects are expected to use a mixture of fixed and floating technology and are working towards being selected for future auctions, SSE said.

Japan aims to produce 10 gigawatts (GW) of wind power by 2030, and 30-45 GW by 2040.

SSE Renewables has the largest offshore wind pipeline across UK and Ireland at 7 GW. It is also exploring offshore wind development projects in Spain, Portugal, Denmark and Poland.

"This is an exciting period for SSE as it continues to grow and deliver its low-carbon electricity infrastructure strategy, including a trebling of our renewables output by 2030," said Jim Smith, managing director of SSE Renewables.

(Reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin; editing by Nina Chestney)