Toda Construction said on Monday that its consortium has started commercial operations at the Goto offshore wind farm in Nagasaki in southern Japan, marking the country's first commercial floating wind project.
The 16.8-megawatt (MW) floating wind farm is the first facility certified under a new law by the industry and land ministries aimed at promoting the sector, as Japan seeks to expand renewable power capacity to meet its 2050 "carbon-neutral" goal.
The Goto Floating Wind Farm consortium, led by Toda and comprising five other companies including Eneos and Osaka Gas, uses a hybrid spar-type floater with a steel upper section and a concrete lower section.
Designed and built by Toda, it marks the world's first commercial application of hybrid spar-type floater technology, the company said.
Japan aims to develop 10 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind projects by 2030 to bolster energy security and "cleaner" power, but the sector faces growing uncertainty amid rising costs and developer withdrawals.
The country is also targeting a 45-GW offshore wind pipeline by 2040, including 15 GW or more of floating wind across its vast exclusive economic zone, the world's sixth largest.
(Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)
