Wind Farms in Japan - or really beside Japan!
I recently read a report from Reuters that Japan is looking to harness wind power in a big way. Adapting an initiative first made in Europe, the country is looking to construct wind farms offshore, employing wind currents found in the Pacific Ocean.
The first offshore wind farm for Asia has been built in Hokkaido on the northern most island of Japan. Two 600 kilowatt turbines situated just a kilometre offshore generate enough power to run almost 1,000 homes a year. The challenge in constructing more sites for these offshore farms is finding a cost effective way to do so in deep sea waters.
I have a naughty question- Would the NIMBYs (not in my back yard) we have objecting to all developments in this country object to them offshore also? Personally I think they are very elegant and beautiful structures and have a less offensive visual impact then clearing vegetation or building houses on rugged windswept coastlines.
Well done Japan! Lots of the EU countries also have offshore wind farms. I would love to see more here. There is potential for much of the coastal onshore aquaculture to minimise the impact of the energy used in running their huge sea pumps if they were allowed to run wind farms but, believe it or not, they are too big to be classified as domestic and too small to be commercial so they are not permitted under whatever red tape has been set up. I have a client trying to do this!
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