Chubu Electric is expected to rebid under a different guise in Japan’s revised offshore wind tender after its previous consortium cancelled three projects that won the first auction, New Project Media has learned.

The plan has unsettled potential competitors to Chubu, with some privately arguing it will have an unfair advantage, in part due to the detailed work the utility has already done for the first tender rounds.

In August last year, trading house Mitsubishi Corporation – which led the winning consortium that included Chubu Electric, one of Japan’s nine major utilities – announced their withdrawal from all three projects it won in the auction, totalling 1.7 GW of capacity.

The fiasco prompted the energy and land ministries to revise the tender, which has enabled industry members, including bidders from Round 1 of the tender, to once again offer their bids.

Chubu Electric has transferred Yohei Shiratori, the key individual in the winning consortium, to a new team that is looking into the same Akita site awarded in 2021 that Chubu will offer in the repeat of the first round auction, sources told NPM.

For the first round bids, Shiratori was previously sent on loan to its subsidiary C-Tech where he was involved in Akita project development and served as vice-director of one of the projects.

He now heads the offshore wind development division in a new Renewable Energy Company unit in Chubu Electric.

This has raised concerns among Japan-based wind power developers over favouritism towards the utility, industry sources have told NPM.

The company has been conducting environmental assessments in the coastal area of Yurihonjo City, Akita Prefecture since the consortium’s exit from Akita.

A source familiar with the issue said they are concerned that the knowledge of the data related to the project gives the company a competitive edge, given its involvement in the planning process .

“ He could recreate the data from his [memory] … it ’ s all in his head, ” the source said under condition of anonymity.

The developer, including Shiratori, oversaw the Akita projects from early preparation stages until the end of August 2025, when Chubu and Mitsubishi both announced their withdrawal following a months-long review of the project ’ s feasibility.

The decision followed an earlier announcement from Chubu in February 2025 that it expected to incur a loss of JPY 17bn (USD 107m) in the fiscal year ending March 2026 due to this project.

When combined with the impairment loss recognised in the fiscal year ending March 2025 during the reassessment of the project ’ s viability, total losses will reach approximately JPY 36bn.

A METI official told NPM in a phone conversation that it penalised the members of the Mitsubishi-led consortium by revoking their eligibility for the next planned auction round.

But he said that if other sites are on offer before the rebidding for Akita, Mitsubishi or C-Tech would still be eligible.

“Even if a bidding company comprises members of the same team that bid under a different name, they’ll still be eligible”, the official at the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, said. “We are looking at company names [in the screening process.]”

He added that if a company arranged a reshuffle to hide the same figures from the team that won the initial bids, it wouldn’t be able to detect this.

A representative of a non-Japanese wind developer said that he would not be surprised if the sites once again go to Chubu Electric.

He said that to METI, a utility’s prestige has more value compared to other potential bidders. “That’s how things are done in Japan,” he said.

The original Mitsubishi-led consortium originally planned to begin construction of the wind farm onshore in March this year, and offshore in April 2029.

With a total of 65 GE fixed-bottom turbines, each with a 13 MW installed capacity, the wind farm was set to start commercial operations from December 2030.

The consortium, operated by special purpose vehicle, Akita Yurihonjo Offshore Wind LLC, was planning to sell electricity generated at the plant at JPY 11.99 per kWh. This proved to be an unsustainably low price but was the chief reason it beat the competition under the initial auction conditions.

The group worked in partnership with a local renewable energy developer, Venti Japan.

The Akita site off Yurihonjo is viewed as one of the best areas for offshore wind development in Japan, given its beneficial environmental conditions, including consistently strong winds.

Shiratori did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for Chubu Electric declined to comment.