Tokyo Gas announces that it has made investment in the “WindFloat Atlantic” operational floating offshore wind farm in Portugal, operated by Windplus S.A., a majority owned subsidiary of Ocean Winds (OW). This investment marks a new collaboration milestone between Tokyo Gas and OW, who are already co-shareholders of Principle Power, a leading-edge technology company for floating foundations, with the perspective of developing floating offshore wind in Japan. It also represents Tokyo Gas’s first direct investment in an overseas floating offshore wind power project.
WindFloat Atlantic is the world’s first semi-submersible floating offshore wind farm, with 8.4MW wind turbines, with OW as its majority owner, developer and operator since 2020. It employs the “WindFloat®” technology, a floating foundation system developed by Principle Power. The system boasts exceptional structural stability and has proven its ability to operate under severe weather conditions, including maximum wave heights of 20 meters and maximum wind gusts of 38.8 m/s.
KIMOTO Kentaro, Tokyo Gas Representative Corporate Executive Officer, Vice President, CTO, and Chief Executive of Green Transformation Company, stated: “Ocean Winds is not only a pioneer in floating offshore wind power but also a global player in offshore wind energy. We are pleased to strengthen our collaborative relationship with Ocean Winds through our participation in WindFloat Atlantic. Moving forward, we will leverage the knowledge gained from this collaboration to work towards the large-scale commercialization of floating offshore wind power in Japan.”
Craig Windram, CEO of Ocean Winds, added: “We are thrilled to welcome our well-known partner Tokyo Gas to our journey of more than 10 years in developing, building and now operating WindFloat Atlantic. We look forward to working together, as we strengthen our relationship around our common goal of developing floating offshore wind as a key source of clean power for the energy transition and as a catalyst for a strong and sustainable industry in the future. This collaboration has the potential to advance floating offshore wind development in Japan, contribute to the country’s renewable energy goals and foster a resilient and environmentally conscious energy landscape for future generations.”
