Akihabara News (Tokyo) — The development of the first commercial-scale offshore wind farms in Japanese waters is requiring the acquisition of new skills, and among these is risk assessment in a nation which experiences relatively frequent natural disasters.
Among the companies moving into the Japanese market in this context is New York-based Marsh, which is the leading risk adviser to the energy and power industry with global revenues in excess of US$10 billion.
In an exclusive interview with Akihabara News, senior executives of Marsh’s Japan-focused team explained what roles they currently fill and what objectives they hold in regard to the nation’s offshore wind industry.
“Our role is to create a capacity for our clients to ensure that there is insurance for them,” explains Benjamin Chang, who is the firm’s energy and power practice leader in Asia.
In essence, Marsh acts as an intermediary between offshore wind developers and insurance companies, which are often not sure how to assess risk for this new industry.
Marsh possesses a great deal of experience in offshore wind from its operations in Europe–though its models do require adjustment to fit the specific conditions of Japan’s natural environment and business conditions.
Offshore wind farm developers have been hiring Marsh earlier and earlier in the process, sometimes before they have even decided to make a bid on a specific offshore zone. This is because the firm helps them calculate costs more accurately and clues them in on important provisions that should be written into contracts.
Currently, there are only about ten other companies in Japanese market that offer services for the offshore wind industry that are similar to those of Marsh.
Still, Marsh aims to achieve a market share of about 20% as the industry matures.
The Marsh executives admit, however, that the first round auctions did not go well for them. When the consortiums led by Mitsubishi Corporation swept all three offshore zones that were awarded last December, all of Marsh’s clients were relegated to also-rans.
They hope to do much better in the second round of auctions, which are likely to be opened to bidding in the coming months.
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