Japan readies wind vessels for upcoming offshore wind farms

Offshore wind farm (OWF) projects in Japan are moving along at a slow but steady pace, and the recent progression of a few projects closer to the construction phase has lured more wind turbine installation vessel (WTIV) operators and contractors to Japan. The wind farm developers are currently sourcing and planning for suitable WTIVs for their upcoming offshore wind projects, and ship brokers are also actively involved in the chartering business for construction vessels, including cable layers. Seeing the need for local vessels to support offshore wind construction activities, Japanese owners have also started growing the fleet of Japan-flagged vessels since 2018. More wind projects are expected in the pipeline, as Japan has recently launched Round Three offshore wind farm auctions for two wind farms off Aomori and Yamagata prefectures with a combined capacity of 1,050 MW.

There are currently three WTIVs in operation that have worked or are working for offshore wind projects in Japan.

Of the operational vessels, Shimizu Corporation's 2,500-metric tons crane WTIV Blue Wind had recently worked on two local projects, installing 14 units of SG8.0-167 DD 8 MW wind turbines and 3 units of 3 MW turbines for Pattern Energy's 112 MW Ishikari Bay New Port OWF and also 3 units of 3 MW at Venti Japan's 9 MW Nyuzen-machi offshore wind farm.

PKY Marine Corporation, a JV company of Japanese Penta-Ocean Construction has started its newbuild WTIV CP-16001 on its maiden installation campaign in November 2023 for Hibiki Wind Energy's 220 MW Hibikinada OWF offshore Kitakyushu City. The WTIV is expected to install 38 units of 9.5 MW wind turbines and turbine jacket foundations for the wind farm.

It is understood that Penta-Ocean can also deploy its 800-metric tons crane WTIV CP-8001 and 500-metric tons crane vessel CP-5001 for the construction work for the wind project. So far, these OWFs are located approximately 5 km from shore at a water depth that is less than 15 m.

Meanwhile, three additional WTIVs have been planned to work on the Japanese wind projects in 2024 and 2025.

The first newbuild WTIV Hakkaku for Obayashi Corporation and TOA Corporation is now available for charter and deployment in 2024. The construction of the WTIV was completed at Japan Marine United Corporation's yard in Japan in April 2023 after the yard commenced construction work in September 2018. It is understood that the WTIV is currently installing a Huisman monopile gripper, which can handle monopiles of up to 26 ft (8 m) in diameter. During the construction phase of the WTIV, the vessel owners made some modifications and upgrades to increase the height of the main hook and also lifting capacity from 800 metric tons to 1,250 metric tons in order to handle larger wind turbines. The vessel is expected to be delivered in the first half of 2024, however, the vessel operator has yet to announce if the newbuild has an upcoming work upon vessel delivery.

Japan's Toda Corporation announced their joint venture company Jack-up Wind Farm Construction acquired WTIV Teras Sunrise (formerly known as Chang De) for offshore wind projects in Japan in early October 2023. It is understood that WTIV is tentatively named JWFC Sunrise by the new owner. The unit, upon its release from ship arrest in China, will undergo a major upgrade program to be completed in March 2025 and will also be reflagged to Japan. The formerly Chinese-flagged WTIV has been active in several turbine installation campaigns and maintenance services for offshore wind projects in China since 2019.

The third vessel is WTIV Sea Challenger, which will be equipped with an upgraded 1,600-metric tons crane and reflagged to Japan by the spring of 2025. This vessel is owed by joint venture company Japan Offshore Marine (JOM), with parent companies DEME Offshore and Japanese marine contractor Penta-Ocean Construction (POC). The two companies target the WTIV to commence construction work for Japanese offshore wind projects.

With the upcoming newbuild WTIV Hakkaku ready in early 2024, the modification of JWFC Sunrise to be completed in 2025, and the Sea Challenger that is scheduled to be in Japan in early 2025, there will be six Japanese WTIVs including Blue Wind, CP-16001, and CP-8001, available for work. These WTIVs will find ready work at the six offshore wind projects totaling over 3 GW coming up as shown in the table below.

¹Oga-Katagami-Akita Offshore Green Energy consortium consists of JERA Corporation, Electric Power Development (J-POWER), Tohoku Electric Power (Tohoku), and Itochu Corporation (ITOCHU)

²Murakami Tainai Offshore Wind consortium consists of Mitsui & Co., RWE Offshore Wind Japan Murakami Taini, and Osaka Gas

³Mirae Noshima Consortium consists of Sumitomo Corporation and TEPCO Renewable Power

⁴Offshore Choshi City is being developed by C-Tech Corporation and Mitsubishi Corporation

⁵Offshore Noshiro City OWF and Offshore Yurihonjo City OWF is being developed by Venti Japan, C-Tech Corporation, and Mitsubishi Corporation. Kajima Corporation and Van Oord have been selected as Balance of Plant preferred contractors for the three OWF projects.

This article was published by S&P Global Commodity Insights and not by S&P Global Ratings, which is a separately managed division of S&P Global.