www.bloomberg.com
31 Mar 2012
Japan is preparing to bolt turbines onto barges and build the world's largest commercial power plant using floating windmills, tackling the engineering challenges of an unproven technology to cut its reliance on atomic energy. Marubeni Corp. (8002), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (7011) and Nippon Steel Corp. (5401) are among developers erecting a 16 MW pilot plant off the coast of Fukushima, site of the nuclear accident that pushed the government to pursue cleaner energy. The project may be expanded to 1,000 MWs, the trade ministry said, bigger than any wind farm fixed to the seabed or on land.
"Japan is surrounded by deep oceans, and this poses challenges to offshore wind turbines that are attached to the bottom of the sea", Senior Vice Environment Minister Katsuhiko Yokomitsu said at a meeting in Tokyo this month. "We are eager for floating offshore wind to become a viable technology".
The world's third-biggest economy is struggling to diversify its energy mix after last year's earthquake and tsunami crippled Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear station. A few countries including Britain, the U.S, and South Korea are testing windmills that float, a technology far more expensive than most fossil fuel or renewable energies. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and its partners are positioning themselves for future contracts to develop gear that so far isn't used in commercial electricity production.
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