Inspenet, September 28, 2023.
A group of Japanese companies, including Inpex, Osaka Gas, Kansai Electric Power, Chubu Electric Power, Japan Renewable Energy (JRE) and Toda, have announced a two-year delay in the start of commercial operations of a wind energy project 16.8 MW marina in the city of Goto, located in the Japanese prefecture of Nagasaki, in the southwest of the country.
The floating wind farm has postponed its start date for commercial exploitation due to problems related to a floating structure , the consortium reported last week. Operations are now expected to begin in January 2026 instead of the initially planned date.
Japan postpones its floating wind project
It is worth noting that Japanese companies have been working on the creation of eight wind turbines with a capacity of 2.1 MW each on the Goto coast. The major project to develop Japan’s first floating wind farm, known as the Goto Islands Floating Wind Power Project with a total capacity of 16.8 MW, originally scheduled to begin commercial operations in January 2023, has faced a delay of two years due to the discovery of problems in the floating structure.
Toda Corporation, the lead company in the development of the project, has identified the problems, investigated their causes and taken corrective measures for the two affected floating structures. As a result, it has obtained approval from two Japanese government ministries to reschedule the start of the project to January 2026. Toda will also carry out inspections on one of the three floating structures already installed offshore to determine if it presents similar problems.
“The expenses related to the correction of the problems have been recorded as losses in the financial report for the fiscal year ending in March 2023. The consortium leading the project, led by Todo Corporation, includes other participants such as Eneos, Inpex, Osaka Gas, Kansai Electric Power and Chubu Electric. This consortium was awarded the first offshore wind contract in Japan in 2021 and planned to deploy eight 2.1 MW Hitachi turbines on floating spar platforms.
The aforementioned project is of great relevance, as it marks the country’s return to floating wind energy after the closure of the Fukushima Forward project, which was a pioneer in offshore wind energy worldwide starting in 2013. Additionally, this project is the first to be awarded under Japan’s General Waters program, which aims to encourage the construction of large offshore wind farms in the country.
Despite the setbacks experienced in the floating wind farm project in Japan due to structural issues, Todo Corporation and consortium members are working diligently to resolve the issues and ensure the successful completion of the project in 2026.
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