Wedoany.com Report-Oct 11, Japan Marine United Co., Ltd has officially started ‘The Southern Akita Floating Offshore Demonstration Project Aimed at Overseas Expansion via Cost Reductions’. The project has been selected as the Phase 2 of the Green Innovation Fund ‘Cost Reductions for Offshore Wind Power Generation’ project granted by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).

The consortium consisting of nine companies led by Marubeni Offshore Wind Development Corp. will work on the project to install two WTGs with a capacity of over 15 MW each, approximately 25 km off the coast of southern Akita Prefecture, in water depth of approximately 400 m. The project period is from August 2024 to March 2031, and the demonstrative wind farm will start operation around the autumn of 2029.

During the Phase 1 of the GI Fund from FY2021 to FY2023, JMU has conducted R&D for reducing the cost of fabrication and installation of floating substructures using state-of-the-art semi-submersible floating substructure design developed by JMU, and obtained the knowledge and technology in the full range of EPCI business of offshore floating wind farm project.

In this project, JMU will conduct R&D on seven themes to solve further technical challenges for the social implementation of floating offshore wind by utilising knowledge in the Phase 1.

Establishment of afloat joining technology at the sea which enables enhanced mass production of floating substructures.

Establishment of optimal construction methods by building the alliance.

Improvement of floating substructures transportation by minimising temporary wet storage.

Improvement of the availability of work vessels and CTVs.

Establishment and standardisation of high-precision structural analysis methods for large floating substructures.

Overall cost optimisation of hybrid mooring in deepwater areas.

Improvement of the project asset value i.e., power production and lifetime, by utilising a digital twin system.