BW Ideol and Tohoku Plan New Floating Wind Project Offshore Japan

BW Ideol and Tohoku Electric Power have signed an agreement to jointly develop a commercial-scale floating wind farm off the coast of Kuji city in Iwate prefecture, Japan.

The companies have now initiated the feasibility studies necessary to develop the project, which will utilise BW Ideol’s Damping Pool technology.

Through the Iwate floating wind project, the two partners intend to closely collaborate on contributing to the early commercialisation of cost-competitive floating offshore wind power in Japan, according to a press release from BW Ideol.

“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“, said Paul De La Guérivière, CEO of BW Ideol.

At the beginning of this year, BW Ideol executed an investment agreement with Japan’s JERA and France’s ADEME Investissement to create an investment company for financing the co-development of projects using its floating wind technology over the next five years.

The floating wind technology provider, which already has a full-scale asset in operation in Japan, last year entered into an agreement with Japan’s ENEOS Corporation to develop a commercial-scale floating offshore wind farm in the country and also has a partnership with Shizen Energy involving the same goal.

ENEOS Corporation is also a partner to Tohoku Electric Power on the development of the Happo Noshiro offshore wind project, together with Japan Renewable Energy Corporation (JRE).

Tohoku Electric Power, which has a 20-year power purchase agreement for the entire output of Japan’s first commercial-scale offshore wind farm, the 140 MW Akita Noshiro, is also a member of the Floating Wind Joint Industry Project (JIP) managed by the Carbon Trust.

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