Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL) President & CEO Takeshi Hashimoto today announced that it has obtained approval in principle (AiP) from Nippon Kaiji Kyokai (ClassNK) President & CEO Hayato Sugafor the basic design of specialised vessels to jointly bury subsea power cables.
Power transmission lines must be reinforced to deliver electricity from wind power generation sites, such as those in Hokkaido, to distant major consumption centres. Long-distance subsea DC transmission is regarded as a promising solution for efficiently transmitting large volumes of power, and it is considered effective not only for power grid development but also for offshore wind power generation. MOL is working with Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd., Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd., and Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK Line) to develop fundamental technologies, including a new type of cable-laying vessel, as part of a project subsidised by the Japanese government’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation (NEDO).
One of MOL’s roles in this project is to develop technologies for cable jointing and burial vessels, and the acquisition of
AiP from ClassNK represents a major milestone.
