The Ocean Winds is running a floating wind farm, named as Wind float Atlantic in Viana do Castelo, Portugal. Tokyo Gas, a Japanese company is aiming to buy 21.2% of the stake from this floating farm.
Japanese Tokyo Gas Aims To Buy Stakes
It is stated that the goal of the Japanese company is to get experience in the wind field by performing maintenance and operating these wind parks. This decision has been discussed before it is finalized by the government. The Japanese government has shown increased interest in the wind power sector by deciding to install wind power in offshore regions. It has been already approved that by the year 2030, the government will install 10 Gigawatt of offshore wind power. Their ultimate goal is to reach 45 Gigawatt by the year 2040.
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The wind Float Atlantic project has been operational since 2020. This project is owned by a big-time company, Ocean Winds which also shares its stakes with other companies like Engie and EDP Renováveis , with a share of 54% along with Repsol, with a share of 19.4% and Principle Power has a 1.2% share. This was developed by the US-owned company as a start and Tokyo Gas has had a share in this company for a long time.
Since the project is shared by many companies, the stake that the Tokyo Gas will buy is from Principal Powers and the Ocean Winds. The deal is not finalized yet, but it is expected that Tokyo Gas and the wind power companies will finalize the deal later this year.
Japan Utility’s First Direct Involvement
This investment will be the Japan utility’s first involvement in an offshore project. The project is quite large scale, and it is difficult to run by a single company, which is why more than 1 company has its share in this project. The wind float Atlantic project comprises 3 turbines of Vestas’ V164-8.4 Mega Watt. It has been deemed as the first floating semi-submersible floating farm in the world.
Tokyo Gas Initiatives and Investments
The farm is mostly run by Wind Plus, a subsidiary company of Ocean Winds and this was Europe’s first ever offshore floating wind project installed in Portugal. The semi-submersible foundation of Principle Power is where the project’s turbines are situated. Along with Aker Offshore, which owns 36.25% of the company, Ocean Winds and Tokyo Gas are also co-shareholders in Principle Power (36.25 and 27.5%, respectively).
Tokyo Gas representative CEO, Kimoto Kentaro has stated:
We are pleased to strengthen our collaborative relationship with Ocean Winds through our participation in Wind Float Atlantic. Moving forward, we will leverage the knowledge gained from this collaboration to work toward the large-scale commercialization of floating offshore wind power in Japan.
The company is running a lot of projects, and they are making new investments in sustainable projects. Tokyo Gas has also been developing 30MW Fukushima Floating in Japan and it aims to make it running in the year 2032. Another project by Tokyo Gas is the offshore fixed-bottom wind plant which will supply 760MW of wind in the Japanese sea. The company also plans to make 600MW of wind for a project called the Chiba project, located right along Isumi.
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