Hogan Lovell OffshoreBook 2023 230809 OnlinePDF - Flipbook - Page 146
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Japan
ability to coordinate with local stakeholders and the project’s impact on local
economy, the government will consider,
among other things, (i) the operator’s
key personnel who will be coordinating
with the heads of the relevant administrative bodies, (ii) the operator’s
relationship and co-existence with the
fishery business operators and shipping
companies and (iii) any impact on the
national or local economies.
b) The power facility’s output standard
The business operator may propose a
total output for its project within ±20% of
the total output set out for that project
when the Promotion Zone is designated
by METI and MLIT.
c) Qualification of participants in
a public auction
The business operator must be a legal
entity established in Japan in order to
participate in a public auction. A foreign
investor may qualify for an auction only
if it has a legal entity incorporated in
Japan or if it invests through an affiliated
Japanese entity, such as a joint stock
company (kabushiki kaisha) or a limited
liability company (godo kaisha).
The business operator will be suspended
from participating in public auctions if
it (i) has grid connection rights and fails
to assign them to the Selected Business
Operator without any valid reason, (ii)
provides forged or false information
to the government in connection with
the designation of a Promotion Zone or
(iii) participates in or leads a bid-rigging
(dango) scheme in connection with any
public auction.
d) Base ports
In order to designate a Promotion Zone
it will be necessary to confirm the size
of the power facilities to be installed as
well as identify the base ports within the
zone that will enable efficient installation
and maintenance of such power facilities.
The base ports should, among other
requirements, be fitted to accommodate
the use of self-elevating platform (SEP)
vessels, have a load-bearing quay and
pier zones with sufficient space. A base
port may need to be fitted to accommodate uses of multiple power facilities
within a single designated Promotion
Zone.
e) Decommissioning
The business operator must provide a
technical and financial plan to decommission the power facilities upon expiry
of the occupancy period. The financial
plan may include use of third-party guarantees or a reserve account mechanism.
The scope of decommissioning works
currently remains under consideration as
no consensus has been formed on feasible methods for decommissioning base
ports and the related costs. An element
of uncertainty therefore remains in this
regard.
