Trelleborg Group has been awarded the contract for the supply of cabling to the world’s largest floating wind farm project being developed by the Furukawa Electric Company off the coast of Fukushima, Japan. The project is being led by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and is located some 16 kilometers out to sea from the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
Trelleborg has supplied Distributed Buoyancy Modules (DBMs), Uraduct, Bend Stiffeners and Bend Restrictors for the experimental phase of the project.
“The Japanese Government has decided to accelerate the move to renewable technologies, and the Fukushima Wind Farm project is a major milestone in the switch from nuclear to renewable for the region” said John Deasey, Renewables Sales Manager at Trelleborg Offshore & Construction. “The project known as Fukushima FORWARD is part of a bigger scheme to reconstruct the area. The initial project is a five-year trial in which different floating structures will be tested prior to the main wind farm being constructed, with three floating wind turbines and one floating sub-station being tested as part of the experiment. Following its completion in 2020, it is estimated there will be further floating structures. Initially Trelleborg will supply cable buoyancy and protection for the first wind turbine, with the remainder of the project to be completed between 2013 and 2015.”
The award of the contract is a significant achievement for the company according to Mr Deasey. It follows on from previous contract wins such as the Statoil Hywind project off the coast of Norway and the Windfloat project off the coast of Portugal.
“Trelleborg is renowned for its market-leading solutions and systems for the offshore oil and gas industry, its extensive experience in developing custom-made solutions for each project meant it was the natural choice” said a spokesperson from the Furukawa Electric Company. “We awarded the contract to Trelleborg as not only did it have an extremely strong track record in regards to its industry knowledge and manufacturing capabilities, its well established products are of exceptionally high quality and the team could deliver the final products to meet the project timescales.”
Subsea electrical power cables are deployed to inter-connect wind turbines on offshore wind farms as well as running between the substation and the shore. Trelleborg Group’s high performance DBM’s are designed to secure, guide and protect the cables from excessive movement and bending that can cause fatigue damage. Japan is well suited to offshore wind farm projects because of the steep coastal shelf and deep water.
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