Lessons from Abroad
Sean Gammons is a director for NERA’s European Energy Group and specializes in economic and valuation issues in the power and gas industries. In his advisory work he specializes in market analysis and regulation for corporate and government clients.
Glenn George is a senior vice president in NERA’s Global Energy, Environment, and Network Industries Practice, where he advises clients on the economics of electric power, natural gas, and related markets as they evolve in response to political, regulatory, and technological change. He has three decades of experience in the global energy sector as an engineer, policymaker, entrepreneur, investment banker, economic consultant, regulatory expert, and strategist. He advised the Government of Japan on the new electric power market rules which went into effect in April of this year. Dr. George holds an engineering degree and an MBA, both from Cornell University; a PhD from Harvard University, with a focus on regulatory economics; and is a registered Professional Engineer in the District of Columbia.
Robert Southern is the head of NERA’s Australian offices. He has extensive experience in the provision of public policy, economic, financial, and related advisory services in Australia, Asia, and the Pacific region.
Willis Geffert is a Senior Consultant in NERA’s Energy, Environment, and Network Industries Practice, specializing in sophisticated economic analysis and modeling to assist global energy clients in meeting the strategic, financial, and legal challenges of operating in restructured and regulated markets. He has extensive experience in European and North American power markets, including Ireland’s SEM, Russia, PJM, NYISO, CAISO, and New Brunswick in Canada.
Japan has a long history of direct foreign investment across a wide range of industries and sectors globally, especially natural resources and industrial goods.
The strategies underpinning those investments are many and varied. They include securing supplies of input materials, and decreasing the cost of labour and transportation to make goods more competitive. They also include gaining access to key technologies for potential redeployment in the home market.
There is yet another strategy underpinning Japanese direct foreign investment in overseas energy-sector assets. This includes gaining experience in restructured energy markets globally so as to thrive in the newly liberalized power market back home in Japan.
This article explores this phenomenon in the context of Japanese experience investing in the energy sector of the U.S., Mexico, the U.K., and Australia.
U.S. Experience
1. Background