Within a month, Japan will switch on its first floating windmill-and use it to power 1,700 homes. Japan has traditionally been considered an “energy-poor” country and had to import massive amounts of coal, oil and natural gas to meet their energy needs. This floating windmill is the first of a planned 140 wind turbines that will be producing energy for Japan by the year 2020. If all goes as planned, the windmills will produce 1 gigawatt of power-the equivalent of the amount of power generated by a nuclear reactor.
Japan has one of the longest coastlines in the world-longer than the U.S.-and an exclusive economic zone 200 miles from the shore, putting them in a prime position for an offshore wind project. The Japanese government is paying $226 million to build the first three wind turbines, and then the rest of the project will be commercialized by 11 different companies. These windmills are unique in that the turbine, substation, and electrical transformer all float on platforms that are anchored to the seabed. This technology greatly expands the potential for the placement of offshore windmills as traditionally they have had to be anchored to the seabed themselves, limiting their usage to shallow waters. The blades have been engineered to last at least two decades and the wind turbines were designed to withstand the biggest typhoons that have hit Japan over the course of the past 50 years.
This newest development puts Japan ahead of the U.S. in terms of offshore wind development. Currently, the U.S. has no offshore wind farms, despite its rich coastline. However, many wind farms within U.S. coastlines are currently in the planning and development stages. The new technology introduced by Japan in offshore wind energy may mean that the U.S. can expand their current proposals for wind energy.
You can read more about Japan’s new offshore wind project here.