Eneos, a Japanese company, will buy a 20% stake in the floating offshore wind project of Norway

Eneos Holdings, Japan's largest oil refiner, said Wednesday that its renewable energy unit had agreed to purchase a 20% stake of the GoliatVind project in Norway to gain expertise and knowledge for Japan.

Japan is only at the beginning stages of developing floating offshore wind, but it sees this as essential for its goal to develop up to 45 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2040.

Tokyo Gas, Japan's largest gas company, announced in August it would purchase a 21,2% stake in WindFloat Atlantic in order to gain operational and maintenance experience.

GoliatVind, a planned wind farm in Arctic waters, will have five 15 megawatt turbines. It is expected to begin operations in 2028. The project received state funding of 2 billion Norwegian crowns (189 million dollars) in March.

Norway hopes floating offshore wind can provide an industrial future to its offshore supply industry, as well as reduce emissions from oil and natural gas production through the replacement of gas turbines.

Eneos Renewable Enery is participating in its first offshore wind project overseas with the GoliatVind agreement, whose terms were not disclosed.

After the deal is completed, GoliatVind will be owned by four companies: Source Galileo (40%) and Odfjell Oceanwind (20%), Kansai electric power (20%), and Eneos Renewable Energy (20%). Reporting by Yuka Obayashi, Editing by Emelia Matarise.

(source: Reuters)