Feb. 20 (Bloomberg) — Japan will begin operating two
offshore wind turbines this year as it tries to diversify its
energy mix and develop turbine technologies.
A 2.4-megawatt turbine has been installed off Choshi in
Chiba prefecture in a research project with Tokyo Electric Power
Co., Masaharu Itoh, director of the new energy technology
department of Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology
Development Organization, said yesterday in an interview. NEDO
also plans a 2-megawatt turbine off Kitakyushu on the southern
island of Kyushu next month in a project with Electric Power
Development Co., also known as J-Power.
The move comes as Japan, which lags behind countries like
the U.K. and Denmark in offshore wind capacity, searches for
alternatives to nuclear power after the 2011 Fukushima disaster.
“Onshore wind turbines are said to be proven technology”
and it is therefore difficult for Japanese turbine makers to
boost market share, Itoh said. “As for offshore, we still have
a chance” to grab market share with large-sized turbines being
developed in Japan, he said.
Japan will use the power generation data from the two
turbines in different locations to help overcome technological
barriers, Itoh said. The Choshi turbine will start running in
early March while the Kitakyushu turbine will start generating
power sometime in June or July.
Offshore Wind Resources
The focus on offshore wind resources comes as turbine
makers seek to develop bigger models more suited for deeper
waters. Areva SA, a French atomic-reactor, offshore wind-turbine
and biomass-plant maker, is raising the size of the rotor in its
5-megawatt model to increase output and cut costs associated
with deep water developments, Jean Hubby, chief executive
officer of the company’s wind unit, said in an interview earlier
this month.
China plans 5,000 megawatts of offshore wind by 2015.
Japan, where all but two of its nuclear reactors are shut for
safety assessments after the Fukushima disaster, may install as
much as 7,500 megawatts of fixed offshore and 17,500 megawatts
of floating offshore capacity by 2051, according to a Japan Wind
Power Association target.
NEDO’s two projects each cost about 5 billion yen ($53
million), which includes the construction of a turbine and
observation tower, according to Itoh.
The turbines are the first in Japan to be built more than 1
kilometer (0.6 miles) from the coastline.
The U.K. represents 51 percent of global cumulative
installed offshore wind capacity, followed by Denmark with 21
percent, data by the Global Wind Energy Council’s Global Wind
Report 2011 showed.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Chisaki Watanabe in Tokyo at
cwatanabe5@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at
landberg@bloomberg.net
