Fukushima Hamakaze En Route to Site

[Updated article]

The 5MW wind turbine mounted on a floating platform, dubbed Fukushima Hamakaze, was installed at the site off Fukushima Prefecture on 20 July.

The turbine left Sumoto port on Awaji Island on 2 July, according to a marine notice issued by the Fukushima Forward consortium. It arrived in the testing area on 10 July and was then fixed to the seabed with six mooring chains-

Fukushima Hamakaze comprises a 5MW Hitachi downwind turbine mounted on an advanced spar floater.

The 51-metre wide floater set sail from Hitachi-Zosen’s dockyard in Sakai on 2 May to be equipped with the wind turbine in Sutomo, where it arrived at the end of the month, after a setback that delayed its arrival by five days.

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 consortium behind the project comprises 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.