JFE Engineering Corporation has decided to invest JPY 40 billion (approx. EUR 309 million) in building a monopile foundation manufacturing facility, for which the company says will be the country’s first factory dedicated to monopile fabrication.
The monopile factory will be constructed on the premises of JFE Steel West Japan Works Kasaoka City, Okayama Prefecture, which will receive large steel plates from JFE Steel and manufacture monopiles and steel pipes for transition pieces (TPs).
The monopiles will be shipped directly to offshore construction sites from the new factory, while the transition pieces will be transported by sea to JFE Engineering Tsu Manufacturing in Tsu City, Mie Prefecture, where the secondary TP components and interior parts will be added, before the fully assembled TPs are transported to offshore construction sites.
JFE said it also planned to add production of jacket foundations in the future and establish a full lineup system for offshore wind power foundation manufacturing.
The construction of JFE’s offshore wind foundation factory is scheduled to start in May 2022 and both the monopile factory in Kasaoka City and the TP assembly facility in Tsu City are expected to start production in April 2024.