Giant Japanese shipowner NYK Line is forging another European partnership to capture a slice of the domestic wind farm vessel market.
The company said it is teaming up with Dutch operator Fugro to develop a geotechnical investigation vessel (GIV).
The two sides will consider joint operation of the unit, and discuss the possibility of collaborating in the domestic expansion of geotechnical services, NYK said.
The companies are starting a joint study to take advantage of a new law introduced by the government in 2019 aimed at speeding up the development of offshore wind farms.
"Demand within the offshore wind power generation market is now expected to expand," NYK added.
The shipowner explained that before constructing a plant, it is necessary to collect geological data in the ocean. GIVs conduct submarine ground surveys.
Shortage of ships
"In response to the rapidly increasing demand for undersea ground surveys, a shortage of offshore geotechnical investigation vessels has become apparent in Japan, so NYK has decided to cooperate with Fugro to address this issue," NYK said.
Fugro has over 25 years of experience in the offshore geological survey business in Europe, where offshore wind power generation is advancing, and is considered to be the world's leading geological survey company, according to NYK.
In January, NYK said it was making a push into the domestic wind farm vessel sector through joint venture agreements with Van Oord and Northern Offshore Group (NOG).
The Japanese owner will own and operate installation ships under the Japanese flag with Dutch group Van Oord, with 2022 a target date.
The planned vessels will have a crane capacity of more than 1,000 tonnes — big enough for the new generation of turbines.
Swedish partnership
The agreement with Sweden's NOG, which owns Northern Offshore Services (NOS), will see the companies start a joint study for a new crew transfer vessel (CTV) in Japan.
Japan's wind power sector generates a small proportion of the country's electricity currently. As of 2017, the country had a total installed capacity of 3,399 MW.
Government targets for wind power deployment are relatively low when compared to other countries, at 1.7% of electricity production by 2030.
It has been estimated that Japan has the potential for 144 GW for onshore wind and 608 GW of offshore wind capacity.
