Japanese shipping company Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) has become a shareholder in the Norwegian floating offshore wind technology developer, Odfjell Oceanwind.
According to Odfjell Oceanwind, the transaction generates significant capital which will be used to further strengthen the company’s position in floating offshore wind technologies.
Odfjell Technology, combined with the Odfjell family’s direct investment, will remain the largest shareholder in the company.
The deal follows the recently announced partnerships with Source Galileo – a European platform for investments in renewable infrastructure, Kansai Electric Power, and IKEA’s investment arm Ingka, for the Utsira Nord seabed lease competition.
According to Odfjell Oceanwind, the strategic partnership enables the company to accelerate its business plan of supporting and partnering with offshore wind developers in realising floating offshore wind projects based on proprietary Deepsea technologies.
At the beginning of this year, the company launched the Deepsea Star floating wind foundation, a column-stabilised, semi-submersible steel design with centre wind turbine tower, designed to take the weights and loads from the 15 MW turbines which will become available for floating wind from 2025 and onwards.
The design has already been selected for the GoliatVIND and UtsiraVIND projects and is currently considered for several Innovation and Targeted Oil & Gas (INTOG) and ScotWind projects and for a total of 50 GW of projects globally.
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When it comes to MOL, the company has two pillars in the offshore wind business.
One is supply chain services for offshore wind farms such as construction and logistics, marine consultation, and O&M, and the other is the development of offshore wind farms including participation in the Formosa I offshore wind project.
Earlier this week, MOL signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with EDF Renewables to cooperate on offshore wind and green hydrogen business development.