Chubu Electric Power Co., Japan's third-biggest energy utility, plans to invest as much as ¥800 billion overseas by 2030, increasing its foreign business by more than 10 times as domestic demand falls.
The Nagoya-based utility will invest ¥300 billion in overseas electricity generation and as much as ¥500 billion in businesses to procure fuel and develop renewable energy, according to Yuji Koyama, group leader of corporate planning and strategy. Chubu Electric has invested about ¥60 billion overseas, he said.
Energy utilities are among domestic companies that are looking overseas as a falling population erodes demand for services and products. Tokyo Electric Power Co., Asia's biggest power utility, plans to invest as much as ¥1 trillion mostly overseas by 2020, it said in September.
"Japan is facing a major period of transition," Chubu Electric said in an English-language statement on its website. "In addition to problems with a declining birthrate, an aging population, and energy resources, the country is also facing responses to global warming and other such issues."
Chubu Electric is targeting pretax profit of more than ¥50 billion from overseas business by 2030, a Japanese-language outline said. It aims to have 10 gigawatts of electricity capacity overseas, up from 1.1 gigawatts now.
The company, which has 10 million customers in Nagoya and nearby regions, plans to increase annual electricity sales from 123 billion kw to 140 billion kw.
Chubu Electric wants to add as much as 4,000 megawatts of nuclear capacity in Japan by 2030 as part of efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, it said. That's in addition to a new 1,400 megawatt unit at its Hamaoka station in Shizuoka Prefecture, it announced earlier.
The company is also aiming to increase natural gas sales from 530,000 metric tons to 2 million metric tons, it said.
Details of the management plan, including timing of investments and locations of projects, haven't been decided, Koyama said.