Japanese firms ABS and FLOWRA collaborate on developing a floating version of their website
## ABS and FLOWRA Collaborate to Advance Floating Offshore Wind Technology
The American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) and Japan’s Floating Offshore Wind Power Technology Research Association (FLOWRA) have joined forces to enhance the safety, reliability, and cost-effectiveness of floating offshore wind technology. The collaboration, marked by a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), is poised to drive international technical alignment and shared safety goals in the rapidly growing floating offshore wind sector.
### Key Objectives
The partnership's primary objectives include the development of practical safety standards, cost and risk reduction, international cooperation, and the provision of technical review and advisory services.
- **Development of Practical Safety Standards:** ABS and FLOWRA aim to create and refine safety standards specific to the unique challenges of floating offshore wind installations, as the industry moves towards deeper waters and more complex engineering solutions. - **Cost and Risk Reduction:** FLOWRA’s mission is to develop common foundational technologies that can reduce both costs and risks for floating offshore wind projects. By collaborating with ABS, the partnership seeks to optimize floating wind systems, making them more economically viable and attractive for large-scale deployment. - **International Cooperation:** The collaboration underscores the importance of international partnerships to accelerate the global deployment of floating wind solutions, especially as demand for renewable energy increases worldwide. - **Technical Review and Advisory Services:** ABS, with its extensive experience in offshore energy and classification services, having advised on over 80 MW of offshore wind projects, will support FLOWRA’s efforts to establish industry norms and best practices.
### Broader Industry Impact
This partnership reflects a broader industry trend towards cross-border collaboration to address the technical and regulatory challenges of floating offshore wind. By combining ABS’s global safety leadership with FLOWRA’s technical research capabilities, the agreement is expected to help shape the future of floating wind infrastructure, enabling safer, more efficient, and economically sustainable projects as the sector scales up globally.
As Chairperson of FLOWRA’s Board of Directors, Masakatsu Terasaki, stated, the partnership with ABS is significant for FLOWRA's efforts, as it aims to advance the optimization of floating offshore wind power systems, establish a robust technical foundation, and reduce development risks and costs. Rob Langford, ABS Vice President, Global Offshore Renewables, also emphasized the partnership's potential, stating that ABS and FLOWRA aim to support a safer future for the global floating wind industry.
- ABS and FLOWRA, in their collaboration, strive to create practical safety standards for the finance industry related to the unique challenges of floating offshore wind installations, as the sector seeks to penetrate deeper waters and implement more intricate engineering solutions, potentially leading to improvements in financial sustainability within the industry.
- FLOWRA, in an effort to drive down costs and risks for floating offshore wind projects, missions aligned with the partnership with ABS, aim to optimize these systems by employing common foundational technologies, making them financially viable for large-scale deployment in the rapidly growing market of renewable energy technology.
- Recognizing the significance of international cooperation in accelerating the global deployment of floating wind solutions, ABS and FLOWRA intend to shape the future of the energy industry by establishing norms and best practices within the sector, facilitating safer, more efficient, and economically sustainable projects in conjunction with worldwide demand for renewable energy.
