Green Innovation Fund Phase1 Project (NEDO Project)

With Japan set to advance the commercialization of floating wind on a larger scale, the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) has established the Green Innovation Fund (GIF). This fund supports companies and organizations in their research and development (R&D) initiatives aimed at reducing the cost of offshore wind power generation. Tokyo Gas, one of Japan's largest utility companies, has been selected for phase 1 and has developed methods for manufacturing and installing floating wind foundations in Japan.

Japan faces a shortage of shipyard docks, which have been essential for manufacturing floating foundations in previous demonstration projects. To address this supply chain constraint, Tokyo Gas selected Principle Power’s modular WindFloat® technology. The technology divides the foundation into blocks that can be manufactured at different shipyards and then assembled at a single location. This method overcomes the need for shipyard docks and leverages the supply chain of shipbuilders, providing high versatility.

The test included a full-scale mock-up of the WindFloat T semi-submersible floating foundation for a 15 MW class model. The project verified the workability and quality control procedures at each step of the assembly process, and the data collected can be applied to future commercial-scale projects using WindFloat® foundations.

Main achievements:

• Optimized design for turbines over 15 MW, while keeping WindFloat® proven resilience for Japan’s severe weather and sea conditions, such as typhoons and Pacific swells - technology has already withstood winds of 210 km/h (during storm Arwen)
• Exchange high-quality inputs on WindFloat® design, specifications, and lessons learned, leveraging the expertise of advanced Japanese shipbuilding companies to establish a cost-effective mass manufacturing process for floating foundations in Japan, with the goal of reducing individual unit delivery times by 40% in comparison with previous operational projects (as outlined in Principle Power’s “300x30” industrialization strategy)

Project implemented as a subcontractor for Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd.'s project under the NEDO Green Innovation Fund Project, Phase 1, 'Mass Production and Cost Reduction of Semi-Submersible Floating Foundations for Early Social Implementation' (Grant recipient: Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd.)

About About the Green Innovation Fund (GIF)

Towards achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 in Japan, METI has established a 2 trillion yen “Green Innovation Fund” under the FY2020 Tertiary Supplementary Budget, operated by NEDO. This fund supports companies and organizations aiming for ambitious targets shared by the public and private sectors. It covers R&D, demonstration, and social implementation over the next decade. One project focuses on reducing costs for offshore wind power generation, allocating up to 119.5 billion yen to develop cost-efficient wind turbine technology suitable for Asian meteorological and marine conditions.