GDG set to make a big splash in the Japanese offshore wind market

The development of offshore wind farms in Japan brings some unique challenges, such as earthquakes, typhoons and unusual geological formation. In this new collaboration, GDG will combine their unique expertise in offshore engineering and geoscience with the local Japanese knowledge of Geo Marine Service Co., Ltd and Nikken Sekkei Ltd, to offer unparalleled survey specification, wind turbine foundation design and certification process support to the Japanese market.  

Speaking at the recent signing of an MOU between the partners, Paul Doherty, Founder of GDG and Executive Vice President of Engineering at Venterra Group, said “... we look forward to building on our current base of foundation design projects in Japan. We’re delighted to partner with Japanese organisations who hold invaluable local knowledge of the marine regulatory regime, grid and development procedures...”

To date, GDG has supported 35,000MW of offshore wind globally. They are leaders in geo-technical engineering design and have already expanded to the UK, EU and the US. They will bring their unique capabilities to their latest target, Japan.

The Basic Energy Plan, issued by the Japanese Government, has set a target of 45 GW of offshore wind by 2040 and will go some way to helping Japan achieve its decarbonisation targets, as well as the growing need to reduce energy costs for consumers. However, the Japanese supply chain required to make this happen has not yet been sufficiently established.

Ken Yoshizumi, Representative Director, Geo Marine Service Co., Ltd, explains, “Our aim is to offer solutions for these challenges through combining our extensive experience in onshore wind with GDG and Nikken Sekkei Ltd, who can introduce the latest international technologies and know how. We are fully committed to supporting the needs of the Japanese market through competitive foundation design work, which is of major importance in the development of offshore wind farms.”