Foundations In at Japan’s First Commercial-Scale Offshore Wind Farm

All 33 monopile foundations have been installed at the 140 MW Akita Noshiro wind farm offshore Akita Prefecture, Japan.

The final monopile and the transition piece were installed off Akita Port by Seajacks Zaratan on 19 September, Akita Offshore Wind Corporation, the owner and the developer of the project, said.

20 units were installed off Noshiro Port, and the remaining 13 off Akita Port. The installation work started from Akita Port in early May.

Seajacks Zaratan will also install the wind farm’s 33 Vestas V117 – 4.2 MW wind turbines. The turbine installation is scheduled to start in April 2022.

Seajacks Zaratan is operated by Seajacks Japan LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the UK-based Seajacks International which was recently acquired by Eneti.

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 two wind farms are scheduled to be operational in 2022.