Japan’s Sumitomo to buy stake in monopile producer EEW

Japanese trading house Sumitomo plans to buy a stake in Germany-based monopile steel slab producer EEW, aiming to strengthen its investment in offshore wind power generation projects in Europe.

Sumitomo is planning to close the deal by the end of the year, according to the company on 19 August. The investment amount and size of the stake was undisclosed.

Demand for monopile, large diameter steel pipes used for the foundations of bottom-fixed offshore wind power generation projects, is expected to exceed 1mn t/yr by 2026 from 650,000 t/yr in 2023 in Europe, according to Sumitomo. Monopile demand in Europe is forecast to reach around 400 unit/yr by 2026, with an ordinary single monopile weighing 2,500t.

EEW produced 2,200 monopiles over the past 15 years, it said, mostly for European wind farms.

"Monopile supply is already tight", according to a Sumitomo representative who spoke to Argus, following an expansion of wind power generation projects in Europe.

Sumitomo is expanding its involvement in European wind power generation projects partly with an aim of buying steel materials manufactured with fewer greenhouse gas emissions, according to the firm. "The supply source of the green steel components includes the Japanese steel producers," the representative added, although further details were undisclosed.

Fellow Japanese steel producer JFE has sold 200,000 t/yr of steel product called JGreeX since 2023, with its impact of GHG emissions reduction certified by Japanese classification society Class NK.

By Yusuke Maekawa