[Japan] JERA, ADEME Investment SAS, and IDEOL Agreed to Jointly Invest in the Development of Commercial Scale Floating Offshore Wind Projects

JERA (a joint venture between Tokyo Electric Power Fuel & Power (headquarters: Tokyo)  and Chubu Electric Power (Headquarters: Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture)), 100% French state-owned infrastructure investment company ADEME Investment SAS (Headquarters: Angers City, France)[1], and the leading French floating offshore wind technology company IDEOL (Headquarters: La Ciotat, France) announced on June 22, 2020, that they have agreed to establish an investment vehicle that will finance the development and construction phase of several commercial-scale floating offshore wind projects around the world. This includes two upcoming wind farms in Scotland and France, which will use IDEOL’s patented Damping Pool technology. The three parties are in discussion to determine the details of the partnership, including the investment amount.

Offshore wind power generation technologies can generally be divided into  two types: fixed structures connected to the offshore foundations called “bottom-mounted foundations” and “floating-type” structures where the foundation is floating on the sea.[2] Floating-type offshore wind turbines, which can be installed even in deep water, have significant potential to help expand the use of renewable energy in the future. The three companies are therefore trying to better understand floating-type offshore wind power and accelerate its global development through this partnership.[3] [4]

[1] https://www.ademe.fr/en/about-ademe

[2] https://www.nedo.go.jp/news/press/AA5_100970.html

[3] https://www.jera.co.jp/information/20200622_508

[4] https://www.jera.co.jp/english/information/20200622_508