Statoil and Hitachi consider Hywind for Japan

JAPAN: Hitachi Zosen and Statoil are assessing the possibility of using the latter's Hywind floating turbine platform for Japanese waters.

by Erin Gill 5 March 2013

The Hywind project in testing off the Portuguese coast
A feasibility study into how the floating platform technology might be deployed is under way. However, there is no plan to build a pilot project in Japanese waters.

Late last year, Japanese industrial firm Hitachi Zosen teamed up with the Norwegian energy company as part of its focus on offshore wind.

Statoil's collaboration with Hitachi Zosen is running in parallel with efforts to install Hywind pilot projects off the coasts of Maine in the US and Scotland in the UK.  

Last year, Hitachi Zosen announced that it had formed a consortium with six other companies to invest around €1.2 billion in offshore wind projects off Japan.

The consortium’s initial target is to install 300MW within the next ten years.

The other companies participating in the consortium are: Toshiba, JFE Steel, the Japan Weather Association, Sumitomo Electric Industries, Toa Corp and Toyo Construction.