Title: Japanese managers' perspectives on project risks in the energy industry

Authors: Masatoshi Kaimasu

Addresses: Department of Home Economics, Kobe Women's University, 2-1 Aoyama, Higashi-suma, Suma-ku, Kobe, 654-8585, Japan

Abstract: Japan needs to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from viewpoints of climate change. To reduce GHG emissions, the Japanese Government has adopted a nuclear power development plan. However, when the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake occurred, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was hit by a tsunami. Since then, renewable energy (RE) has drawn more attention. The Japanese Government adopted feed-in-tariff (FIT) in 2011 which has accelerated RE penetrations into Japan. The number of RE projects is likely to increase. Project management is the key to project success. There are some project risks that can cause delays. This paper focuses on RE projects in Japan to clarify the characteristics of the project and identify the project risks. Three hypotheses are finally proposed, that is: degree of rigidity/flexibility of project scope; understanding procurement and contract forms; and the influence of natural disasters and metrological aspects.

Keywords: renewable energy; project management; risk management; procurement management; Japan's energy mix policy; safety; feed-in tariff; project success; project managers.

DOI: 10.1504/MEJM.2021.113999

Middle East Journal of Management, 2021 Vol.8 No.2/3, pp.219 - 232

Received: 03 May 2019
Accepted: 21 Feb 2020
Published online: 06 Apr 2021 *

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