Sumitomo Corporation and JGC Japan Holdings Corporation have signed an agreement to investigate collaborating in the detailed design, manufacture and delivery of structural components for floating offshore wind.
The two companies will examine the possibility of establishing a supply chain with the aims of reducing costs, enhancing efficiency and achieving mass production in the manufacturing and supply system by leveraging the strengths of respective partners.
The partnership will focus on detailed models of floater components based on floating foundation design; and the development of steel and shipbuilding manufacturers as partners in the manufacture of floater parts, order placement and manufacturing management.
The transportation of components to base ports for offshore wind power generation will also be investigated.
Global floating wind power generation capacity is forecast to increase from approximately 0.2GW in 2022 to 269GW in 2050, and approximately 800 new units are expected to be installed annually around 2050.
The supply of floater components is not keeping up with ever-increasing demand for offshore wind turbines, which is likely to cause a bottleneck in the expansion of the floating wind power generation market, the pair said.
Sumitomo Corporation is an active investor in the field of offshore wind power generation and has invested in a company that owns heavy lift vessels (Netherlands) and a company that owns and operates vessels that transport engineers and equipment to wind turbines under construction (Norway).
It is also the representative company in a consortium for a power generation project off the coast of Enoshima Island in Saikai, Nagasaki Prefecture, and is in discussions with Oshima Shipbuilding a member of the Sumitomo Corporation Group, with a view to utilising its large-scale shipbuilding facilities and mass production technology in the manufacture of floating structures.
In 2018, the JGC Group established a department dedicated to entering the offshore wind power generation sector, which it has positioned as a focus area for Energy Transition in the Business Area Transformation section of its long-term management 2040 Vision.
Sumitomo Corporation Group and JGC Group will continue to explore establishing a supply chain in the offshore wind power generation field from varied perspectives, with a view to realising a carbon-neutral society.