The Japanese are co-owners of the Norwegian Goliath. Norwegian local content with Japanese input

By Marek Grzybowski

Leading Japanese renewable energy company ENEOS Renewable Energy (ERE) has become a partner in the GoliatVIND project. ENEOS has acquired a 20% stake in the project from Odfjell Oceanwind, the Norwegian Offshore Wind cluster reports. ERE is part of the Japanese energy giant ENEOS Holdings, Inc. (formerly JXTG Holdings, Inc.) The innovative and comprehensive approach to the construction and use of offshore wind farms in Norway and Japan can be a model for Polish politicians and investors.

This part of the ENEOS energy group focuses on projects aimed at popularizing renewable energy activities. ERE is conducting investments whose main goal is to rebuild the energy supply system in Japan. The Land of the Rising Sun has planned to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

ERE invests in diversified renewable energy sources, including solar energy, onshore and offshore wind energy, biomass-based power plants and hydropower plants. The shareholders building GoliatVIND are Source Galileo Norge (40%), Odfjell Oceanwind (20%), The Kansai Electric Power co., inc. (20%) and ERE (20%).

GoliatVIND is a 75 MW (5 x 15 MW) demonstration project. It will be built on the basis of floating offshore wind farms located in the northern part of Norway’s maritime economic zone. The floating “windmills” will be connected to the grid via the FPSO Goliat. The power will flow to the Norwegian power grid in the Hammerfest region with the onshore grid reservation in Statnett and Lucerne.

The project must operate on the basis of floating structures, the generator group producing energy is located in a water area 400 meters deep. The boundaries of the floating wind farm are located in the water areas of the northern part of the Norwegian Sea and the Barents Sea. These will be structures based on the Deepsea Star™ semi-submersible foundation technology from Odfjell Oceanwind.

DNV certified wind turbine foundation

In early 2022, DNV awarded the Deepsea Semi™Odfjell Oceanwind floating wind turbine foundation an Approval in Principle (AiP) certificate. The certificate was awarded to the technology for powering oil and gas installations operating in difficult ocean conditions.

The Deepsea Semi™ foundation is designed to support floating wind turbines with a capacity of up to 15 MW. The wind farms with this foundation are expected to operate in the North Sea and the Atlantic. They are expected to be anchored in water depths ranging from 100 to 1,300 meters.

– The project will benefit from the supply chain developed by Odfjell Oceanwind for several years. Earlier this year, GoliatVIND received a grant of NOK 2 billion (USD 185 million) from Norwegian state-owned company ENOVA SF as part of a program aimed at demonstrating and reducing the costs of floating offshore wind farms, emphasizes the Norwegian Offshore Wind cluster.

– We are pleased to welcome ERE as a key partner in the GoliatVIND project. The inclusion of ERE in the partnership further strengthens our capabilities in terms of project development and implementation. We are particularly honored that another Japanese company has decided to invest in one of our projects, following the investments of Kansai Electric Power and M.O.L during the past year, says Per Lund, CEO of Odfjell.

ERE is another global player with strong industrial and financial potential.

– The entry of ERE into the project complements our existing partner base and further demonstrates the importance of our projects and capabilities in the global floating offshore wind market, emphasizes Lund.

– We are pleased to see another example of how attractive the Norwegian market is for Japanese companies – comments Arvid Nesse, CEO of Norwegian Offshore Wind.

Source Galileo Norge and Odfjell Oceanwind began their cooperation on GoliatVIND at the end of April 2023. Source Galileo Norge secured EUR 175 million in financing from Enova in March 2024. The investor announces that GoliatVIND could be launched as early as 2027-2028, provided that there are favorable factors, such as an appropriate regulatory framework and a favorable administrative atmosphere.

The Norwegian government has adopted an ambitious goal of reducing CO2 emissions by 50-55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels. It is assumed that in order to achieve this goal, it is necessary for the electricity used by the oil and gas industry to be obtained from renewable sources. The Norwegian government has also set a target of 30 GW of offshore wind energy by 2040.

Gotō (Eco) City, Nagasaki Prefecture

The Japanese approach decarbonization comprehensively. They build wind farms to transform cities into zones friendly to people and the environment. In this case, the construction of the farm has a specific goal, not only economic but also social. And before offshore wind farms are built in Poland, it is also worth looking at their functions in this way. There is no shortage of coastal communes and small sea ports in Poland. They can initiate a more ambitious project in the shape of a “second Japan”.

The Japanese, who are participating in the project to build the ecological city of Gotō City, decided to join the Norwegian project, knowing that GoliatVIND received a grant of NOK 2 billion (USD 185 million). The Norwegian-Japanese consortium received funding for the project from the Norwegian state-owned company ENOVA SF.

This is an implementation carried out as part of a program aimed at building a demonstrator and determining the possibilities of reducing the costs of launching offshore wind energy based on a floating structure. The Japanese partner emphasizes that “This is ERE’s first foreign offshore wind project and the second offshore wind project after the Gotō City project.”
The Gotō City project will involve the construction of Goto Floating Wind Farm LLC. Due to the discovery of defects in the floating structure, the construction schedule for the Japanese offshore floating farm was recently changed. The date of the start of commercial operation of the project was originally planned for January 2024.
However, the construction process was delayed due to defects discovered in the floating structure during construction, according to investors and contractors. These include Goto Floating Wind Farm LLC, TODA CORPORATION, Japan Renewable Energy Corporation, OSAKA GAS CO., LTD., INPEX CORPORATION, Kansai Electric Power Co., Inc., Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc. Two of these entities are participating in the Norwegian wind farm construction project.
The identified defects forced a change in the implementation plan. The operational launch of the floating wind farm near Gotō City is scheduled for January 2026. The application was approved by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) in September 2023.
Since installation has already started, TODA inspectors will conduct an inspection of the floating structure already installed off the coast of Sakiyama. After identifying defects, work will continue. One of the three floating structures installed off the coast of Sakiyama will be unloaded at a shipyard in the port of Fukue. The integrity of the floating structure will be examined at the shipyard. Based on the results of the examination at the shipyard, TODA will decide whether to conduct an inspection of the other two floating structures.

Japanese-Norwegian knowledge transfer

The participation of Japanese companies is also aimed at transferring knowledge and exchanging experiences in the construction of floating wind farms. ERE emphasizes that it intends to contribute to the finalization of the Norwegian project, “using its knowledge and experience in onshore and offshore wind energy projects”.
In June 2024, ERE joined the Floating Offshore Wind Technology Research Association (FLOWRA), which aims to promote the development of technologies and innovations for the commercialization of floating offshore wind energy. ERE management emphasizes that it will “also participate in advanced initiatives in Norway and use the knowledge and experience gained from its floating offshore wind activities”. The idea is to “contribute to the full-scale development of the offshore wind business, which is expected to be established in Japan in the medium term”. The company is focused on achieving full commercialization of wind energy obtained from floating farms.
In the case of the second Japanese company participating in the Norwegian project, it should be noted that Kansai Electric Power Co., Inc. is the second largest energy company in Japan, being a leader in the energy sector. It has a rich history of investment and service activities in the Japanese energy market. The company focuses its activity on four basic areas: energy, transmission and distribution, information and telecommunications, and retail and business solutions. Outside Japan, Kansai Electric Power has a developed international portfolio. It includes 2,852 GW of generating capacity. The company controls 22 projects in 11 countries in Europe, both Americas, and Asia. In the case of Japanese wind farms, local content is estimated at around 80% of the value. It is time to think about what local content will look like in the case of less complicated “Polish” offshore wind farms.