Commencement of NEDO “Research & Study of Technological Development for Lowering Construction Cost of Floating Offshore Wind Power Generation”

MODEC, Inc. (Chuo-ku, Tokyo, Yuji Kozai, President & Chief Executive Officer, hereinafter
“MODEC”), TOYO CONSTRUCTION CO., LTD. (Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Kyoji Takezawa,
Representative Director, President, hereinafter “Toyo Construction”), and Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd.
(Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Keiichi Kobayashi, Representative Director, President, hereinafter “Furukawa
Electric”) jointly applied for a publicly offered project “Research & study of technological
development for lowering construction cost of floating offshore wind power generation” related with
“Demonstration research of next-generation floating offshore wind power generation system
(Technological development for lowering construction cost of floating offshore wind power
generation)” by New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), and the
application has been adopted. We are delighted to announce that as of today, October 30, each of the
three companies entered into a business trust agreement with NEDO.

 

For realization of decarbonized society, offshore wind power generation, which has been introduced
mainly in Europe, is shifting its site location from at coastal area to more windy offshore area to raise
energy efficiency. Also, in Japan with large territorial sea, floating offshore wind power generation, in
addition to traditional bottom-mounted offshore wind power generation, is attracting attention.

 

In this Research & Study, for mooring method of floating body, instead of a slack mooring method
which has been demonstrated domestically & abroad as a mooring method for floating body of
offshore wind power generation, a floating body mooring system by Tension Leg Platform (hereinafter
“TLP”) is adopted to reduce costs (see Figure 1 and 2). In the Research & Study, we will ensure
structure reliability required as a floating body mounting 10MW-over-class large windmill to be
assumed in real business operation by utilizing excellent dynamic response characteristic of floating
body on TLP, and also will develop low-cost next-generation floating body system and underwater
cable system by durability enhancement of wind power generation equipment and underwater power
transmission system due to little dynamic response. Also, compared with the slack mooring method,
it enables drastic reduction of space occupied in marine area by mooring line, therefore, it will
demonstrate excellent social receptivity by limiting influence on fishery and ship operation.

 

The term of this project is two years until March 2022. MODEC will be in charge of floating &
mooring system, Toyo Construction will be in charge of design of mooring foundation and offshore
works, and Furukawa Electric will be in charge of power transmission system, and then technology
development and cost reduction will be evaluated.

 

Toyo Construction is also working on demonstration experiment on technology of bottom-mounted
offshore wind power generation facility foundation (suction bucket foundation) with subsidy by
NEDO, and will establish construction method of offshore wind power generation facility foundation
for both of bottom-mounted and floating, and will contribute to the spread of offshore wind power
generation in the future in Japan.