Offshore wind power generation in the spotlight in Japan
As the government seeks to move away from nuclear energy, wind power in Japan has seen a surge in popularity, with a growing number of power utilities and heavy industrial manufacturers starting offshore turbine construction projects.
The Environment Ministry announced that it aims to increase Japan's offshore wind power generation to 8.03 million kilowatts, equal to the amount of electricity generated by eight nuclear power reactors, by 2030, and projects for new or expanded wind farms are already under way around the country.
Fifty meters off the coast of Kamisu, in Ibaraki Prefecture, the company Windpower operates seven 2,000-kilowatt wind turbines jointly developed by Hitachi Ltd. and Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. The two companies plan to increase the number of turbines to 15 by the end of 2012, bringing the total output to 30,000 kilowatts.
Tokyo Electric Power Co., operator of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, plans to purchase electricity created there at up to 23 yen ($0.3) per kilowatt-hour.
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