Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) has teamed up with another Dutch floating wind technology developer. The Japanese shipping giant has penned a memorandum of understanding with TouchWind for joint development of the latter’s tilting angled one-piece rotor floating wind turbine.
MOL is expanding its business into offshore wind and said it foresees great opportunities for this “cost competitive and robust” floating turbine concept. TouchWind’s floating wind turbine is said to be able to handle wind speeds of up to 70m/s and allow more compact floating offshore wind farms. According to the company, this leads to an enormous increase in the energy potential and allows for quicker and safer maintenance during harsher weather conditions.
MOL’s wholly owned London-based subsidiary will play a key role in the cooperation with Touchwind. Masayuki Sugiyama, general manager of Wind PowerProjects unit at MOL, stated: “The unique concept of TouchWind shows high potential for increasing the utilisation rate and efficiency of wind farms as well as reducing wind turbine costs thanks to its innovative design. I believe that the collaboration with TouchWind will bring opportunities to MOL to develop efficient and competitive floating offshore wind farm projects.”
Founder and CEO of Touchwind, Rikus van de Klippe, added: “I am convinced that the cooperation with MOL will enable us to faster roll out our one-piece rotor floating wind turbine. I also look forward to the joint future technology development with MOL in order to further increase efficiency and achieve cost reduction, especially in operation and maintenance at sea level.”
In April, MOL also teamed up with Dutch two-blade floating offshore wind technology developer Seawind to set out a collaborative pathway for Seawind’s activities in Japan and throughout Asia, as well as to contribute to a soon-to-be-disclosed demonstrator project in Europe.
