MOL investment participation in offshore wind power business in Taiwan

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL), Toho Gas Co., Ltd. (Toho) and Hokuriku Electric Power Company (Hokuriku) have agreed to acquire a 25% stake in Formosa I International Investment Co., Ltd. (Target Company) from Macquarie’s Green Investment Group in order to participate in Taiwan’s offshore wind power business1. This will mark the first investment made into the offshore wind power generation space outside of Japan by these three companies.

The Target Company, through its wholly-owned Formosa I Wind Power Co., Ltd. (FWPC), operates an offshore wind farm with 128MW of generation capacity (Formosa 1) located off the coast of Miaoli County, Taiwan2. Formosa 1 is the first utility-scale offshore wind farm in Taiwan, and has been contracted to generate and sell electricity to Taiwan Power Company for 20-years based on the Feed in Tariff (FIT) scheme in April 2017 for Phase 1 (8MW) and December 2019 for Phase 2 (120MW).

The acquisition is planned to be carried out through a special purpose company (SPC) jointly established by the three companies in Taiwan, in which MOL, Toho and Hokuriku will own 37.5%, 37.5% and 25.0% of the shares respectively. The three companies are in the process of filing for incorporation of the SPC, and the transaction is expected to complete after all the necessary procedures including approvals from the Taiwanese authorities.

The three companies will contribute to the realization of a “Decarbonized Society” by obtaining knowledge in the offshore wind power space through the participation in Formosa 1 and expanding their renewable energy business.