BW Ideol and Tohoku Electric Power Co. Inc. have signed a formal agreement and initiated the feasibility studies necessary to jointly develop a commercial-scale floating offshore wind farm off the coast of Kuji city, Iwate prefecture, Japan.
The project will be based on BW Ideol’s Damping Pool technology. The two companies intend to collaborate to contribute to the early commercialization of floating offshore wind power in Japan through this Iwate prefecture project.
“We’re pleased and honored to join forces with a leading Japanese utility such as Tohoku EPCO and to further contribute to the advancement of floating wind power in Japan,” says Paul de la Guérivière, CEO of BW Ideol. “Japan is a very promising market where we have a strong local presence and recognition and where we have been co-developing numerous projects for several years now. 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.”
Founded in 1951, Tohoku Electric Power Co. Inc. is one of the major Japanese utility companies. Under the Tohoku Electric Power Group Carbon Neutral Challenge 2050, it will accelerate CO2 emissions reductions by maximizing use of renewable energy and nuclear power; decarbonizing thermal power sources; and realizing a smart society. Focusing on renewable energy development, it announced the target of developing 2 GW of capacity, centered on wind power, chiefly in the six Tohoku prefectures and in Niigata Prefecture. The company currently participates in numerous projects, including onshore and offshore wind power as well as solar power.
“We are pleased and honored to start the feasibility study at the Iwate prefecture together with BW Ideol, which has abundant experience as well as technical expertise in the floating offshore wind industry,” states Toshinori Shirato, general manager of Tohoku Electric Power. “As our motto ‘yori, sou, chikara’ describes, we will continue working hand-in-hand with local communities with our founding motive of serving as a bedrock for the region.”
