A project led by Toda Corporation to develop the first of a new wave of Japanese floating wind farms has been delayed by two years due to the discovery of “defects” in the structure.
Toda announced today (Friday) that its 16.8MW Goto Islands floating wind project off the Nagasaki prefecture has had its commercial operation date pushed back from January next year to January 2026.
This is due to “a delay in the construction process caused by the discovery of defects in the floating structure”.
It said an application to revise its start date was approved by two Japanese government ministries today.
Toda said it has “already confirmed the facts, investigated the causes and considered countermeasures, and has taken corrective measures for the defects in the two floating structures and restarted construction work at the onshore yard.”
Toda said it will also inspection one of three floating structures already installed offshore to “verify the existence of defects,” after which it will decide what to do with the other two.
Toda said it has recorded the costs associated with correcting the defects as a loss for the fiscal year ending March 2023.
The consortium led by Toda was declared the winner of Japan’s first offshore wind tender in 2021, in a debut round in which there was only one entry.
Besides construction group Toda, other members of the consortium include oil companies Eneos and Inpex, Osaka Gas, Kansai Electric Power and Chubu Electric.
The Toda-led project is planned to deploy eight Hitachi 2.1MW turbines on spar-type floating platforms.
The Goto Islands project was hailed as marking a return to floating wind by Japan after the pioneering Fukushima Forward project, which led the way globally from 2013 but has since been decommissioned.
Goto Islands marked the first award under Japan’s General Waters programme designed to drive major offshore wind construction off the Asian nation.
