Japan’s First Commercial-Scale Offshore Wind Farm Starts Receiving Turbine Parts

A ship carrying the first batch of wind turbine parts for the 140 MW Akita Noshiro, Japan’s first commercial-scale offshore wind farm, entered the Akita Port on Sunday, 12 December.

SAL’s vessel, loaded with 11 wind turbine tower sections, departed from Taicang Port in China in early December, Akita Offshore Wind Corporation, the developer of the project, said.

The remaining turbine components will be shipped to the Akita Port gradually and in time for the start of turbine installation scheduled for Spring 2022, the developer said.

The Akita Noshiro project is being developed by a consortium led by Marubeni which also includes Obayashi Corporation, Tohoku Sustainable & Renewable Energy, Cosmo Eco Power, The Kansai Electric Power, Chubu Electric Power, The Akita Bank, Ohmori, Sawakigumi Corporation, Kyowa Oil, Katokensetsu, Kanpu, and Sankyo.

Kajima Corporation is the project’s EPCI contractor.

The project comprises 20 Vestas V117 – 4.2 MW wind turbines to be installed off Noshiro Port, and 13 Vestas units off Akita Port.

Seajacks Zaratan installed the final monopile foundation for the project in September.

Eneti’s jack-up will also install the wind turbines at the wind farms next Spring.

The two wind farms are scheduled to be operational in 2022 and have a 20-year power purchase agreement with Tohoku Electric Power for the entire output.