Palfinger Receives Crane Order for Another Japanese Offshore Wind Farm

Contracts & Tenders

March 15, 2023, by Adnan Durakovic

Palfinger Marine has officially been commissioned to deliver 25 of its stiff boom cranes for the Kitakyusyu-Hibikinada offshore wind farm in Japan.

The deliveries of the service platform cranes are scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2024.

The Austrian-based company said that the design of the stiff boom cranes with an outreach of eight metres has been completely adapted to meet the offshore wind service crane requirements and especially the EN13852-3 standard.

Following a cooperation between Penta Ocean Construction and Nippon Steel Engineering, the platform cranes will be delivered and installed throughout 2024.

The contractor for the wind farm is a joint venture between POC and NSE. The wind farm is scheduled to start commercial operation in 2025. Combined, the wind turbines will have a capacity of about 220 MW, thereby furthering Japan’s efforts of becoming carbon neutral by 2050.

”The cooperation between POC and NSE is an important project for our next steps on the Japanese market and shows our dedication to growing our presence there. It is our local footprint as well as our profound knowledge of the market-specific regulations that determine our success,” said Gunther Fleck, Vice President Sales & Service Region Marine at Palfinger.

Back in February 2017, the government of Kitakyushu City selected the consortium of Kyuden Mirai Energy, Kyuden Corporation, Hokutaku Renewable Energy Service, J-Power, and Saibu Gas to build the Hibiki-nada project.

The tender winners established the special purpose company, Hibiki Wind Energy, shortly after to develop the project.

The 220 MW Kitakyushu-Hibikinada will comprise 25 9.6 MW units of the pre-selected Vestas V174 wind turbine, installed on a 2,700ha site within the port area of the Hibikinada district of the Port of Kitakyushu.

Palfinger Marine was also involved in Japan’s first large-scale commercial wind power project, the Akita Noshiro wind farm, delivering 33 fixed boom cranes for the project.