The government on Thursday started looking into the factors that led a consortium including Mitsubishi and a Chubu Electric Power unit to withdraw from wind power projects in three areas off Akita and Chiba prefectures.

Based on the results of the examination, the government will review the current bidding system for offshore wind power projects, aiming to present a direction by year-end to reopen bidding for the projects off Akita and Chiba at an early date.

Mitsubishi, a major Japanese trader, and Chubu Electric, which serves central Japan prefectures, announced the consortium's pullout from the projects last month.

As the reason for the decision, Mitsubishi noted that construction costs would more than double from the initial estimate due partly to soaring prices of construction materials.

In light of this, an expert panel of the industry and infrastructure ministries will discuss establishing a system to reduce costs for companies participating in such projects in order to facilitate the continuation of the projects.

The government will also consider reviewing the evaluation method for selecting successful bidders.

At a related meeting on Thursday, an expert said that the Mitsubishi-led consortium's withdrawal "is very regrettable and would have a major impact on society."

Another participant said the government should ask the companies that withdrew to provide the geological and topographical data they collected to firms to be chosen in the planned fresh bidding so that they can launch construction early.

The Mitsubishi-led consortium won the projects off Akita and Chiba in 2021.

It had planned to construct offshore wind turbines with a combined output of about 1.7 million kilowatts of electricity in the three areas off the prefectures. Operations had been slated to start in stages from 2028.