New Nagasaki Center a Fresh Tailwind for the Offshore Wind Power Industry

Supporting New Energy

Offshore wind power is expected to play a major role in the global shift to renewable energy creation. In November, the Offshore Wind Power Human Resource Training Center, or Nagasaki Ocean Academy Training, began taking on trainees on the island of Iōjima, Nagasaki.

Japan’s limited shallow waters suitable for fixed-bottom wind turbines led it to lag far behind the leaders in wind power uptake in Europe and China. However, it is seeking to make up lost ground with the development of technology for floating wind turbines. The government has set its sights on generating 45 gigawatts of offshore wind power, equivalent to power created by 45 nuclear reactors. The NOA Training center will train 1,000 workers each year in construction, maintenance, and inspection to support decarbonization efforts with the human resources required.

It takes about 25 minutes to travel by boat from Nagasaki Port to the island of Iōjima, also reachable by a bridge from the city in around 30 minutes. (© Nippon.com)

The Nippon Foundation, which is involved in various marine development projects, is providing financial support for NOA Training, while the prefectural and city governments, local enterprises, and education facilities are working together to manage it. Nagasaki, which faces the issue of its population—especially younger people—leaving to seek opportunities in Japan’s major cities, welcomes the job creation. Mayor Suzuki Shirō said the city would apply its strengths in marine activities, developed in the fishing and shipbuilding industries.

The completed safety training building. In fiscal 2025, a skills training building will be constructed on an adjacent site. (© Nippon.com)

An indoor swimming pool used for safety training. (© Nippon.com)

Open to Overseas Trainees

At NOA Training, trainees learn about working in high places, what to do if someone falls into the water, and essential knowledge about preventing and extinguishing fires when operating far from land. The two-story training building is equipped with an overhead crane and a 3.5-meter-deep pool for practicing the operation of lifeboats and rescuing people with injuries. The center offers three- and five-day training courses in which participants can obtain international certification. All courses can be taken in English, and Matsuo Hiroshi, the director of the center, intends to actively recruit trainees from overseas, “As in the construction industry, which is suffering severe labor shortages, foreign workers will be essential for offshore wind power.”

In fiscal 2025, a new skills training building will open, focused on mechanical, electrical, and hydraulic operations. The following fiscal year, an offshore tower will be completed, making possible training exercises based on transfers from access vessels to wind turbines and the delivery of supplies.

The offshore tower to be completed in fiscal 2026, allowing for globally pioneering training. (© Nippon Foundation)

Eight kilometers south-southwest of Iōjima is the island of Gunkanjima, which is part of the Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution: Iron and Steel, Shipbuilding, and Coal Mining, registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2015. Its coal mine prospered and contributed greatly to Japan’s modernization, but ceased operations in 1974 with the switch to oil and natural gas as main energy resources.

All involved hope that NOA Training, opened half a century later, will play a major role in the development of a new energy era.

Emergency evacuation training. (© Nippon.com)

Training for lifting injured people to a height where they can be easily picked up by a rescue helicopter. (© Nippon.com)

(Originally published in Japanese on November 10, 2024. Reporting and text by Nippon.com. Banner photo: Training demonstrations held on the opening day of Nagasaki Ocean Academy Training. © Nippon.com.)