Offshore wind turbine maker Vestas has installed the first offshore wind turbine at the Akita Noshiro offshore wind project in Japan.
This will be Japan’s first commercial-scale offshore wind project.
Thirty-three V117-4.2MW turbines, totaling 140MW, will be installed in the port areas of Akita and Noshiro. The V117-4.2 MW is designed for extreme wind conditions.
Vestas will deliver 20 years of service and maintenance. The project will power the annual equivalent of nearly 130,000 households once fully operational.
Back in 2020, the Japan Wind Power Association said it wanted to expand the country's offshore wind power installed capacity to 10 gigawatts(GW) in 2030 and 30-45 GW in 2040.
In March 2022, Japan's Industry minister Koichi Hagiuda said the country would speed up its efforts to develop offshore wind power projects, in the wake of the Ukraine crisis and its effect on the energy market.