Danish engineering company Ramboll has said it has secured five contracts in the past ten months for offshore wind farms located in Japan, China, Taiwan, and South Korea, and that it expects fivefold offshore wind business growth in the region in the next five years.
The five new contracts cover site condition assessment, project development, and design services for offshore wind farms located in the emerging markets of Japan, China, Taiwan and South Korea, Ramboll said.
The contracts were awarded over a period of ten months and have a total value of DKK 60 million ($9,5 million) for Ramboll.
"With a cumulated capacity of over 1500MW the five offshore wind farms will significantly contribute to the countries’ transition from coal and nuclear power to low-carbon energy," Ramboll said.
The company also said it was opening a new office in Tokyo to secure a more permanent footprint in the region and serve its clients better.
Tim Fischer, Global Director Offshore Wind in Ramboll said: "Our wind business has been steadily growing in a range of different Asian countries within the last five years and these new contracts represent a major achievement for us as a Western company, further strengthening our position as experts in the field of offshore wind consultancy and foundation design."
“The contracts were awarded based on our strong competencies within the full offshore wind project lifecycle and over 20 years of experience in rendering multidisciplinary consultancy services internationally, including project development, owner’s engineering services, foundation and substation design, and asset management services.”
The environment in the Asia-Pacific region is extreme and designing reliable foundations requires cutting-edge expertise, Ramboll says.
"Our presence on the Asian market has helped us gain detailed knowledge about the challenging geological, metocean and seismic site characteristics. These conditions are unique to the Asian market and add to the complexity of arriving at the most cost-effective solutions,” adds Fischer.
Beth Wattleworth who is the Commercial Development Director for Asia at Northland Power, a Canadian independent power producer operating three offshore wind farms in the North Sea and developing more in Asia said:"Ramboll is a respected company that has made a big difference on the Asian offshore wind market. They have managed to build a good reputation and we are confident that their knowledge and experience will be extremely beneficial to the industry.”
Ramboll said it expected the installed offshore wind capacity in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan to grow from around 2 GW today to 25 GW by 2030.
"This expected rapid growth of wind energy production, as well as governmental climate policies supporting the increase of renewable energy in the region, has led Ramboll to open a new office in Tokyo, Japan," Ramboll said.
“Our commitment to the Asian wind market is strong and increasing and therefore we now open an office in Tokyo to secure a more permanent footprint in the region and serve our clients better on building offshore wind farms in the region,” Tim Fischer says.
“We expect to increase fivefold our offshore wind business in Asia during the next five years to become 50 wind experts focusing on the Asian market.
"We are trying to learn and understand the culture and we work on localizing our business in order to better serve our clients. We are also very happy to combine our hard-gained experiences from Scandinavia and Western Europe with the Asian technology and knowledge,” he says.