Title: Prospect of offshore wind energy development in Japan

Authors: Tetsuya Kogaki, Hikaru Matsumiya, Izumi Ushiyama, Hiroshi Nagai, Masanori Higashino, Nobuaki Iwasaki, Toru Nakao, Susumu Ogawa

Addresses: National Institute of Advanced Industry and Science Technology, (AIST), Namiki 1-2, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8564 Japan. National Institute of Advanced Industry and Science Technology, (AIST), Namiki 1-2, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8564 Japan. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ashikaga Institute of Technology, Omae-cho 268-1, Ashikaga, Tochigi, Japan. Department of Mathematical Information Engineering, College of Industrial Technology, Nihon University, Izumi 1-2-1, Narashino, Chiba, 275-8575 Japan. Next Energy, Yabe 1-21-4, Sagamihara-ku, Kanagawa, 229-0032 Japan. Turbine Engineering Department, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., Minatomirai 3-3-1, Nishi-ku, Yokohama, 220-8401 Japan. E&E Solutions Inc., Asahi Bldg, Kamata 5-38-3, Ota-ku, Tokyo, 144-0052 Japan. Japan Electrical Manufacturer’s Association, Nagata 2-4-15,Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 100-0014 Japan

Abstract: In Japan, the cumulative capacity of wind turbine generation systems on land has increased steadily in recent years. To install a large number of wind turbines has inherent problems such as shortage of suitable land, and inadequate infrastructure such as power cables and roads. The necessity for development of offshore wind turbine generation systems has been recognised based on the above backgrounds. An expert committee to survey the prospect of offshore wind turbine generation in Japan was organised last year. In this paper, the prospect of offshore wind energy development in Japan is reported based on the discussion in the committee. As a result, it was found that there are some undesirable circumstances for offshore wind energy utilisation in Japan. For that reason, we need technological innovation as well as an increase in scale of wind farms in order to achieve an economical profit. The difficulty in realising of offshore wind farms in Japan relates to Japanese inshore conditions, various legal regulations and fishing rights issues.

Keywords: Japan; offshore wind energy; resources; development.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESD.2002.002351

International Journal of Environment and Sustainable Development, 2002 Vol.1 No.4, pp.304-311

Published online: 16 Jul 2003 *

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