SeaTwirl patents its wind turbine technology in Japan

SeaTwirl has been granted a patent for its divisible offshore wind turbine by the Japanese Patent Office.

“Japan has great water depths and large cities along the coasts, which is an interesting market for our floating wind turbine, especially when Japan has set a goal of becoming CO2 neutral by 2050. To protect our ideas and technologies in the future, we put a lot of focus on our patent strategy. Our strong patent portfolio is one of our biggest assets”, said SeaTwirl CEO Peter Laurits.

The wind technology developer was granted the same patent in Sweden in 2017, and in the U.S. and China in 2019. In January 2020, SeaTwirl was granted the patent by the European Patent Office (EPO).

The divisible wind turbine allows for the entire generator and bearing housing to be replaced just above the water surface, reducing costs for both installation and maintenance, and minimising downtime, according to SeaTwirl.

The company has gone from prototype to developing a 1 MW version of its S2 wind turbine over the last few years. Last year, the company said it was in an expansion phase with a focus on the market and the upscaling of the S2 turbine.

The S2 is a floating vertical axis wind turbine (VAWTT) with a tower placed on an underwater structure, which consists of a buoyancy component and a keel at its lowest point.