A consortium of ten companies headed by Hitachi Zosen has secured a contract to develop a 220 MW offshore wind farm in northwestern Japan.
Hitachi will be responsible for the installation of wind turbines coming up in Murakami City of Niigata prefecture.
Meanwhile, Hitachi Zose will be responsible for the foundation and overall design and Hitachi Capital will be responsible for the financing and operations.
The Iwafune wind farm project, which is expected to cost JPY100bn ($852m), will consist of 40 and 50 turbines that will annually generate energy for about 170,000 homes.
Manufacturing of equipment will begin from 2020 while operations are expected to begin in 2024.
The consortium has already begun the technical and commercial proposal for 44 bottom-mounted offshore wind turbines.
A total of about 220,000kW wind turbines will be installed each with a capacity of 5,000kW.
A feasibility study on the project is under progress and a special purpose company (SPC) will be established in 2015 based on the results.
Mitsubishi and Venti-Japan will carry out business development and operations.
Sumitomo Electric Industries will undertake transmission cables, substations and other installations.
The Daishi Bank and The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi will provide financing for the project.
In March 2014, Japanese government launched a project to improve integration of increasing wind and solar capacity in the country.
Wind power currently contributes less than 1 percent of Japan’s total power capacity, with just 2.6GW installed throughout onshore.
The offshore wind capacity of Japan stands at only 45.6MW spread over 24 turbines at five locations.
With an aim to explore better opportunities in wind energy segment, Reed Exhibitions Japan will be hosting WIND EXPO from February 25 – 27, 2015 under the scope of World Smart Energy Week.
Sabeena Wahid
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