Norwegians Talk Offshore Wind in Japan

Norway’s Equinor and the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy met with Nippon Foundation in Tokyo to discuss offshore wind collaboration, GCE NODE said.

“This is a continuation of the agreement, which GCE NODE, Norce and Nippon Foundation signed at ONS in Stavanger in August. We have had an inspiring workshop, and discussed many good project proposals,” said Anne-Grete Ellingsen, CEO of GCE NODE.

The relationship between GCE NODE, Norce and Nippon Foundation is focused on ocean innovation, including offshore oil & gas, offshore renewables and subsea mining. The ambition is to build a joint portfolio of research, development and innovation projects.

The Tokyo workshop was divided into three parts. First, both Norwegian and Japanese companies presented technologies for offshore wind. This was followed by a discussion between industry and academic partners on common areas for R&D and competence building. In part three, the project partners discussed an action plan and timeline for joint R&D applications.

The wind workshop was opened by the Norwegian Deputy Minister of Petroleum and Energy, Ingvil Smines Tybring-Gjedde and the Executive Director at the Nippon Foundation Mitsuyuki Unno. In her opening speech, Tybring-Gjedde focused on how collaboration between Japan and Norway can enhance technology and competitiveness in the field of energy, while Unno discussed the importance of offshore wind development in Japan.

Karsten Stoltenberg, Country Manager at Equinor Japan, addressed opportunities and challenges facing offshore wind in Norway and Japan, with regards to energy transition, building a new industry, developing technologies and scale to bring down cost.

Thor Arne Håverstad presented Norce and its capabilities within research and innovation and focused on how to extract commercial value of the efforts, in close co-operation with the industry.

Ellingsen presented GCE NODE’s strategy for transfer of technology and competence from the oil and gas and maritime sectors to new ocean industries, with special focus on offhore wind. Several companies in the NODE cluster followed up with examples of how this is done.

CEO Arne Marthinsen presented Einar Øgrey Farsund’s substations and concrete foundations for floating windmills, Jan Grindheim, Director Strategy and Emerging Business at MacGregor Norway, talked about the benefits of scaling, in relation to wind farm mooring system, and Hallgeir Angel from Air Products, Ottar Lykkedrang from Global Ocean Technology and professor Fang Huang at Kobe University provided introductions to the technology of offshore wind.

Sjur Bratland from Norwegian Energy Partners focused on how to develop a sustainable supply chain for offshore wind project and Yoshinori Ueda from the Japan Wind Association presented the possibilities in the Japanese offshore wind market and challenges connected to the framework for developing offshore wind in Japan.

“For GCE NODE, it is important to increase competitiveness in existing markets and transfer competence and technology to new markets. Partnering with world-class researcher and innovation leaders both in Japan and Norway, provides an opportunity to do both. This partnership will assist our industry’s efforts to move in a more cost-effective and sustainable direction,” said Ellingsen.