At the start of 2020, just as Japan was getting a new wave of overseas investment into the energy sector via the upcoming auctions for offshore wind, Covid-19 hit the world and locked down borders for over two years. Dozens of companies that planned to expatriate experienced talent were not able to do so, whereas Japanese firms were able to bring their own people back from where they had been gaining experience in overseas markets.

This led to a high demand and low supply of experienced talent in key technical skill sets during the pandemic. Not limited to offshore wind, other solutions such as VPP technologies, battery storage and energy trading experts also confronted significant demand but were limited by lockdowns.

Now that the world is open again, can Japan leverage global talent pools? Should they do so? What limitations can companies and overseas experts expect in Japan?