Sabik Offshore, experts in marking and lighting offshore wind farms, announces that it has successfully developed a marine lantern specifically suited to the Japanese market.
Sabik Offshore is pleased to be playing its part in the developing offshore wind infrastructure of Japan. As the chosen supplier of aids to navigation for the Akita and Noshiro Offshore Wind Farm, Sabik Offshore is pleased to announce that it has received the official project certification from the Japanese Coast Guard for the use of the Seamark ML05 Marine Lanterns. This paves the way for future use in Japanese offshore wind farms.
Japan has always had to be forward-thinking about powering their country and offshore wind is expected to play a large role in their shift to energy independence. The government is aiming to have 10 GW of offshore wind energy by 2030, and 30-45 GW by 2040. Considering that current power to the grid stands at less than 100MW, these are ambitious targets.
In addition to the standard IALA specifications for lighting, there is a unique requirement in Japan that the body of a light on a tall structure must be the same color as the light it emits. Therefore, a yellow light (such as those used in offshore wind farms) must be in a yellow casing with exactly the same chromatic coordinates.
This necessity for the housing of the light to be the same color as the light itself initially posed a challenge.
Managing Director, Morten Christensen said:
“We are a solutions-oriented company. We always do our utmost to satisfy the needs of our customers and the local requirements they need to abide by. We pride ourselves in our inventiveness, we are flexible and adaptable, and we always rise to the challenges posed by different markets.”
In the end, the Sabik Offshore team settled on the idea of using a weatherproof and UV-resistant yellow film.
Jeremy Sanderson, Sabik Offshore’s Japanese Representative, continues:
“Our Sabik Offshore SeaMark Marine Lanterns are now sheathed in their chromatically-matched yellow film and so satisfy these local requirements specific to Japan. I am proud of the way we have been able to form close consulting relationships with our clients and local regulatory bodies such as the Akita Coast Guard to ensure full compliance with local requirements. As a result of this, we have received official notice that The Akita Coast Guard has issued an official certificate of permission for our ML05 Nautical Lanterns to be deployed on this project.
We have also provided special mountings and brackets to comply with the client’s health and safety requirements. Typically, our lights would be clamped to the handrail, but for this project, they are fixed to the stanchions outside the hand rail, in order to prevent the brackets from becoming an obstruction to workers on the platform.”
Christensen continues:
“Here at Sabik Offshore we pride ourselves on the relationship we have with all our clients. We take great care over the standards and specifications for each country where we supply our marking and lighting systems. Through our experience and expertise, we collaborate with our customers to adapt our products and manufacturing processes to suit local requirements.”
For more information about Sabik Offshore’s Marine Lanterns, or any other aspects of their safety solutions, do get in touch with their local regional experts.