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Page added on March 11, 2012
Japan to Try Floating Wind Turbines
Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry is sponsoring an experimental offshore floating wind farm project.
The project will be carried out by a consortium made up of Marubeni as project integrator, the University of Tokyo, Mitsubishi, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, IHI Marine United, Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding, Nippon Steel, Hitachi, Furukawa Electric, Shimizu and Mizuho Information & Research.
This experimental project consists of three floating wind turbines and one floating power sub-station off the coast of Fukushima. The first stage of this experimental project will begin this year and consists of one 2MW floating wind turbine, the world’s first 66kV floating power sub-station and undersea cable. In the second stage of the project, two 7MW wind turbines will be added between 2013 and 2015.
Fukushima Prefecture expects the experimental project to spawn a new industry in renewable energy and create employment as part of recovery efforts in the wake of last year’s earthquake. Through the project, Fukushima hopes to develop a large wind farm industry.
One of the most important themes of the experimental project is the coexistence of fishing with the offshore wind farm industry. The consortium will work to maintain good relations with the local fishery industry while pursuing commercialisation of this offshore wind farm project.
The aim is to crearte a practical wind farm business scheme that could lead to the deployment of large-scale floating wind farms in the future. The hope is also to build on the experience and knowledge to develop a new Japanese export industry.
4 Comments on "Japan to Try Floating Wind Turbines"
george on Sun, 11th Mar 2012 12:26 pm
they can float in on the next tsunami
Bob Owens on Sun, 11th Mar 2012 3:21 pm
This is an interesting experiment and should be tried. I don’t hold out a lot of hope for it as the ocean environment is really rough on anything mechanical. Wouldn’t it be better to declare the tsunami zone to be an agricultural and wind farm zone and build all your wind turbines on land? The turbine towers are very sturdy and would most likely survive another tsunami quite well. You just can’t repopulate that zone with towns and have a good outcome.
doug nicodemus on Sun, 11th Mar 2012 6:07 pm
i like bob’s attitude…
Kenz300 on Sun, 11th Mar 2012 7:18 pm
The Japanese have shut down 52 or their 54 nuclear power plants and seem to be getting along quite well by increasing energy efficiency, reducing demand and using alternative energy sources.