MOL teams up with Nagasaki Prefecture on renewable energy projects

Japanese shipping company MOL has signed a collaboration agreement with Nagasaki Prefecture Department of Industrial and Labor Affairs to develop and promote renewable energy projects and shipbuilding-related industries in the prefecture.

As informed, MOL will collaborate with Nagasaki Prefecture in the fields of renewable energy and shipbuilding-related industries, and with various local companies, including Sawayama & Co., which has a long history of promoting the prefecture’s maritime industry, to create a “value chain of maritime-related energy.”

In October 2021, the Japanese government announced the goal of achieving carbon neutrality on a national scale by 2050, and the industry is accelerating the move toward decarbonization.

In the future, Nagasaki Prefecture is expected to promote the construction of more environment-friendly vessels and make advances in renewable energy by utilizing marine and wind energy.

Meanwhile, MOL announced the “MOL Group Environmental Vision 2.1.,” which aims to achieve group-wide net-zero greenhouse (GHG) emissions by 2050 through five strategies.

MOL will be working with Nagasaki Prefecture to develop a supply chain for renewable energy in Japan and overseas.

“Through this partnership, the MOL Group will promote improved fuel efficiency and GHG reduction for its vessels and contribute to the realization of a low-carbon society,” the company emphasized.

In line with its decarbonisation strategy, last month the company revealed its plans to launch the construction of Wind Hunter, a hydrogen-producing vessel outfitted with multiple rigid sails, in 2024.

The project intends to use MOL’s rigid, collapsible sail technology developed under the Wind Challenger project on vessels capable of capturing that power during high wind periods to generate hydrogen for use during lower wind sections of the voyage.

MOL plans to deploy about 110 net-zero emission oceangoing vessels by 2035.