Tokyo Gas to acquires 21.2% stake in Portugal’s floating wind farm

Tokyo Gas, Japan’s leading city gas supplier, announced on Tuesday that it will acquire a 21.2 per cent stake in the WindFloat Atlantic project, a pioneering floating offshore wind farm located off the coast of Portugal.

This move aims to gain valuable experience in operating and maintaining such facilities as Japan pushes forward with its decarbonisation goals.

Floating offshore wind power is a nascent technology in Japan, but the government views it as crucial to achieving its ambitious target of 10 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind capacity by 2030, including both bottom-fixed and floating installations. This target is projected to increase to a staggering 45 GW by 2040.

This acquisition marks Tokyo Gas’s first foray into a direct investment for an overseas floating wind farm project.

WindFloat Atlantic, operational since 2020, boasts a capacity of 25 megawatts and utilises a semi-submersible floating foundation system developed by Principle Power, a US technology startup in which Tokyo Gas acquired a stake back in 2020.

The terms of the agreement remain undisclosed, but the transaction is expected to finalise by the end of 2024.

Tokyo Gas will acquire the stake from a consortium consisting of Ocean Winds, a joint venture between Portugal’s main utility EDP (EDP.LS) and French company Engie (ENGIE.PA), and Principle Power.

Attribution: Reuters