Fukushima Hamakaze Taking Final Shape

The Fukushima Hamakaze construction, built for the 14MW Fukushima Forward floating wind farm demonstration project, was completed after a 5MW Hitachi downwind turbine was mounted on an advanced spar floater in the port of Sumoto, Japan.

The construction is expected to be towed to the demo site off Fukushima in July.

The 51-metre wide floater started its journey from Hitachi-Zosen’s dockyard in Sakai to Sumoto, Awai Island, on 2 May.

While under tow, the floater tilted to a 45 degree angle in Osaka Bay due to an uncontrolled water ingress to one side during the planned submersion on 9 May.

The foundation recovered stability on 14 May after the water within was evenly spread. The incident has reportedly caused a 5-day delay to the project’s timeline.

The Fukushima Forward demonstration site comprises three floating wind turbines and one floating power substation situated off the coast of Fukushima.

A 2MW turbine, Fukushima Mirai, and a 25MVA floating substation, Fukushima Kizuna, were installed at the site in 2013. A 7MW turbine, Fukushima Shimpuu, was installed in July 2015.

The goal of the Fukushima Forward project is to establish a business-model and contribute to future commercialisation of floating wind farm projects.

The consortium behind the project includes Marubeni Corporation, Japan Marine United (JMU), the University of Tokyo, Mitsubishi, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding, Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal, Hitachi, Furukawa Electric, Shimizu, and Mizuho Information & Research.

The project is funded by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

Offshore WIND Staff