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Friday, 05 November 2021 09:25

Wood Thilsted complete design, transport and installation work for Akita Noshiro, Japan

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After gaining the prestigious detailed design contract for ScottishPower Renewables’ East Anglia Hub in England, Wood Thilsted has now completed secondary steel design for Japan’s first commercial windfarm, Akita Noshiro Offshore Wind, on the far north west coast of Honshu.

Wood Thilsted is also providing the Kajima Corporation (part of the EPCI contractor) with transport and installation (T&I) support for Akita Offshore Wind Corporation, whose inaugural project, comprising 33 turbines, is expected to commence energy generation in late 2022.

2021 11 05 092249Danny Bonnett, Engineering Director at Wood Thilsted, said: “Design work, transport and installation assessments for an emerging technology in a new market always provides a series of particular challenges, including the interpretation of relevant health and safety regulations.”

“But”, he added, “as we are already achieving in Taiwan and other locations worldwide, our experts can deliver a highly efficient and ergonomic design arrangement that meets specific needs; in this case, designing secondary structures, including important boat-landing and external work platforms for a part of the world where seismic events can cause high wave loading”.

The Akita Noshiro project has a conical grouted connection, which for the installation scope, required careful work to ensure that the ‘centralisers’ and associated jacks would ensure accurate levelling of transition pieces, whilst providing enough fixity during grout curing to mitigate the effects of early age cycling. 

Developed by a consortium led by Marubeni, the Akita project

maintained a very challenging schedule for manufacture, transportation and installation works; in part by Wood Thilsted’s experience of the type of turbines that have been installed - and its understanding of the requirements for support and installation of high voltage electrical components.

In addition to this first commercial windfarm in Japan, Wood Thilsted has also provided detailed design for both Vineyard Wind (the first utility-scale offshore windfarm in America) and for Dogger Bank A in the North Sea (UK).

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