Floating wind foundation maker BW Ideol has partnered up with Japanese electric utility Tohoku Electric Power to conduct feasibility studies necessary to jointly develop a commercial-scale floating offshore wind farm off the coast of Kuji city, Iwate prefecture, Japan.
The project will be based on BW Ideol’s patented Damping Pool technology, that, according to BW Ideol, optimizes the stability and performance of the floating wind turbine, even in extreme conditions.
"The two companies intend to collaborate very closely to contribute to the early commercialization of cost-competitive floating offshore wind power in Japan through this Iwate prefecture project," BW Ideol said.
Paul De La Guérivière, CEO of BW Ideol, said: “We’re pleased and honored to join forces with a leading Japanese utility such as Tohoku EPCO and to further contribute to the advancement of floating wind power in Japan. Japan is a very promising market where we have a strong local presence and recognition and where we have been co-developing numerous projects for several years now.
"This agreement comes just a few months after our ScotWind tender success and confirms the merits of our dual-leg growth strategy as asset co-developer and as floater technology provider. Our teams are already hard at work and are determined to successfully develop this project.“
Toshinori Shirato, General Manager of Tohoku Electric Power, said: “We are pleased and honored to start the feasibility study at the Iwate prefecture together with BW Ideol who has abundant experience as well as technical expertise in the floating offshore wind industry. As our motto “yori, sou, chikara” [he Strength to Work Alongside] describes, we will continue working hand-in-hand with local communities with our founding motive of serving as a bedrock for the region.”
Back in 2020, the Japanese government set a goal of expanding the country's offshore wind power installed capacity to 10 gigawatts by 2030 and 30-45 GW by 2040.
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