Japan’s Shimizu Corporation will invest ¥50bn ($462m) to build a next-generation offshore wind installation vessel (WIV) that can handle turbines up to 12MW.

Construction of the self-propelled, self-elevating jack-up will start in August, and is scheduled to complete by October 2022. Shimizu said it expects the vessel to bring in ¥50bn revenue annually from domestic offshore installation works.

The vessel is designed to handle installation of 8MW-plusr turbines, which will be “the essential [products] in the Japanese and European offshore wind markets to reduce the cost of generation,” the company said in a statement.

“Japan has announced 10GW [of] offshore wind development plans at present, most of which plan to [deploy] 8MW and 12MW turbines,” the company said, as it predicted a ¥5trn offshore wind market would emerge in the country.

The vessel, which is 50-metres in width and 142 metres long, has a payload of 28,000 tonnes, and is equipped with a crane with a maximum lifting capacity of 2,500 tonnes and a lifting height of 158 metres.

Shimizu claimed the vessel is capable of “world-class performance”, operating in waters of 10-65 metres depth and capable of installing seven 8MW or five 12MW turbines in just ten days, and jacking-up and -down in even the 10-second waves that pose a regionally specific challenge to offshore projects in the Pacific.

The firm will use Dutch company GustoMSC to provide conceptual design for the vessel, and local yard Japan Marine United for detailed design and shipbuilding.

One of Japan’s five largest engineering companies and an offshore wind frontrunner, Shimizu has already worked on Japan's pioneering Fukushima floating wind demonstrator.

Siemens Gamesa in June was named preferred supplier to a 455MW project that the OEM said was the first deal for any large commercial-scale offshore wind project in the Asian country.

Wind

Japan’s Shimizu builds offshore installer for 12MW turbines