Japan's Chubu Electric eyes increased investment in overseas renewables, SMRs
By Yuka Obayashi
TOKYO, Oct 17 (Reuters) -Japan's Chubu Electric Power 9502.T plans to further invest in overseas decarbonisation assets, including renewable energy, small modular reactors (SMRs), and carbon capture storage (CCS), to fuel future growth, a company executive said.
Chubu, a major regional electric utility, outlined a long-term strategy in 2021, including a plan to spend 400 billion yen ($2.7 billion) on overseas assets by decade's end, aiming to generate recurring profit of 20 billion yen from them by 2030.
"We are on track to achieve our 2030 goals for global business," Hiroki Sato, senior managing executive officer, told Reuters in an interview on Thursday, though he did not give a specific figure.
Chubu, which holds a 20% stake in Dutch energy firm Eneco, has made several investment decisions since 2021, including stakes in Canada's geothermal venture Eavor Technologies, U.S. SMR startup NuScale Power SMR.N, and Vietnam's renewables company Bitexco Power.
The utility also partnered with BP BP.L on a CCS project, aiming to collect CO2 from industries at the port of Nagoya in central Japan and export it for storage abroad.
Sato, with extensive ties in the global energy industry, envisioned geothermal, SMR, and CCS as key pillars driving Chubu's future growth and supporting climate change mitigation efforts.
"Eavor's technology could be a game changer for the global geothermal market," Sato said, expressing his intent to bring the technology to Japan.
He also highlighted the potential for SMRs in regions such as Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, and the United States.
Amazon.com's AMZN.O recent move to develop SMRs underlined that nuclear power and renewables are the best energy sources to meet growing demand for data centres, he added.
With the global trend backed by the agreement of more than 20 countries during last year's COP28 climated conference to boost nuclear power capacity, "SMRs and next-generation reactors are expected to represent a substantial portion of nuclear sector," Sato said.
"Our priority is also to keep Japan's energy options open with emerging global technologies."
Chubu Electric aims to expand its global decarbonised energy portfolio through 2030, potentially boosting exposure to existing assets, while benefiting from investments and domestic operations, Sato said.
($1=149.44 yen)
Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Clarence Fernandez
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