The consortium, taking part in the project, comprises Chiyoda, EDP Renewables, Repsol, and Engie. It is also acquiring a stake in Windplus, the project owner.
To be built 20km off the coast of Viana do Castel, the 25MW WindFloat Atlantic project will have 3 or 4 wind turbines on floating foundations.
Principle Power’s semi-submersible foundation WindFloat technology will be used at the project which has been implemented in WindFloat 1 project with a 2MW turbine mounted on a floating foundation.
The WindFloat technology is said to dampen wave and turbine induced motion, enabling wind turbines to be sited in previously inaccessible locations where water depth exceeds 50m and wind resources are superior.
The WindFloat 1 prototype has already produced more than 16GWh of clean power over almost four years of operation.
The WindFloat Atlantic project is being backed by the European Commission, through the NER 300 program, and the Portuguese Government through the Portuguese Carbon Fund.
It was also selected for the InnovFin program by the European Investment Bank.
Mitsubishi and Chiyoda will each hold a 20% stake in the project, which is expected to become operational in 2018.
Besides the WindFloat Atlantic project, Mitsubishi is also developing another offshore wind farm project in the Netherlands and is engaged in offshore transmission cable operation projects in the UK and Germany.
The company is aimed at increasing its global power generation assets from the current 5GW to 7.5GW.
