Hokutaku Co., Ltd. (Hokutaku; President: Yukari Yoshida; Headquarters: Asahikawa-shi, Hokkaido) and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL; President & CEO: Takeshi Hashimoto; Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo) today announced that as the first project, the Hokutaku MOL Wind Energy Investment Limited Partnership (Hokutaku MOL Wind Energy Fund) (Note 1), which was established by Hokutaku and MOL, executed an investment in Hokutaku Corporation (wholly owned by Hokutaku), a special-purpose company that holds a 10% stake in Hibiki Wind Energy Co., Ltd. (Hibiki Wind Energy;Representative Director: Yutaka Mizumachi; Location: Wakamatsu-ku, Kitakyushu City).
Hibiki Wind Energy is gearing up for construction of the "Kitakyushu-Hibikinada Offshore Wind Farm," one of the largest offshore wind projects in Japan, and already signed major contracts for various phases of the project by the end of 2022, aiming to start commercial operation by the end of FY2025.
As a follow-up project, MOL and Hokutaku have decided to invest in a joint human resource development project (Note 2) from the Hokutaku-MOL Wind Power Fund to provide training facilities for the operation, maintenance, and management of offshore wind power generation in Kitakyushu.
The Hokutaku/MOL Wind Energy Fund will carry forward investment in the offshore wind value chain, which is considered the key to renewable energy, contributing to the realization of a decarbonized society.
