J-Power and GE Vernova have started of operations of the Ishikari Hachinosawa wind farm on Hokkaido island, Japan.
The 21MW wind farm is located near Ishikari city and is owned by Ishikari Green Energy, a subsidiary of J-Power, an electric utility.
It has been in operation since March 2024 and is powered by five units of GE Vernova’s 4.2-117MW wind turbines.
The project will help enable both companies to support Japan’s goal of increasing the share of the national electricity mix from renewable energy from 36% to 38% by 2030, as outlined by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry’s sixth National Electricity Mix.
The project, being GE Vernova’s second 4.2-117 wind turbine project for J-Power, serves to further strengthen the companies’ relationship following the start of operations of the Esashi Replacement Project in early 2023.
GE Vernova, J-Power and project construction partners have been working closely to achieve start of operations since the arrival and delivery of the main wind turbine components at Ishikari Shinko Port in May 2023.
A unique challenge of the project was coping with snow since Ishikari is a location that experiences heavy snow and blizzards and had undergone incidents of whiteouts with severe lightning and thunderstorms during the commissioning of the project.
This posed challenges for the project team, who had to stop work periodically to prioritise safety.
Daily snow removal work, close collaboration with the customer, and proper last-mile planning enabled the project to be constructed safely and on-schedule.
Gilan Sabatier, Chief Commercial Officer of GE Vernova’s onshore wind business, said: “We appreciate the confidence that J-Power continues to show us in choosing our 4MW class turbine line for their projects in the county.”
Katsuya Toda, Department Director of the Onshore Wind Power Business Department of J-Power said: “J-Power is proud to announce the implementation of a new clean energy project in Ishikari Hachinosawa as a joint venture with SymEnergy.
“We thank GE Vernova and everyone who helped make this project a reality.
“We will continue to provide many clean energy solutions in Japan to achieve the carbon neutrality goals set forth in J-Power “Blue Mission 2050.”