MOL, Hokutaku Complete Offshore Wind O&M Training Facility in Japan

May 22, 2024, by Adnan Memija

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) and its group company Hokutaku have completed the construction of a training facility specializing in practical operation and maintenance (O&M) of offshore wind power generation on the premises of Hokutaku’s Kyushu Branch in Japan.

MOL Hokutaku training facility — *Source: Mitsui O.S.K. Lines*

According to MOL, this is the first training facility in Japan to use the transition piece (TP). The facility will be able to provide maintenance training, assuming risks specific to offshore wind power generation, based on Hokutaku’s experience in maintenance and case studies from Europe.

With Hokutaku as the representative subsidizing company and MOL as the participating subsidizing firm, the facility was built as one of the subsidized projects in the Offshore Wind Power Human Resource Development Project, administered by the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, part of Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry, for the fiscal year 2022 and 2023, respectively.

The training course is not limited to Hokutaku’s own maintenance engineers but is open to all those involved in offshore wind power maintenance, according to MOL.

In addition, MOL and Hokutaku aim to become partners of choice for the entire offshore wind power value chain, by combining the strengths of both companies.

MOL said that the firms will continue to expand their offshore wind business in Kitakyushy City, through investment in offshore wind projects.

In 2021, the companies established Horizon Ocean Management, a joint venture firm, providing inspection and maintenance services to the offshore wind sector.