Japan offshore wind power

日本海上风电概况世界海上风电概况Offshore wind capacity continued to grow in the year 2009. By the end of the year, wind farms installed in the sea could be found in twelve countries, ten of them in Europe and some minor installations in China and Japan. Total installed capacity amounted to almost two Gigawatt, 1,2 % of the total wind capacity worldwide. Wind turbines with a capacity of 454 Megawatt were added in 2009, with major new offshore wind farms in Denmark, the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden and China. The growth rate of offshore wind is with 30 % slightly below the general growth rate of wind power. In Denmark, so far the largest offshore wind farm was inaugurated in the North Sea: Horns Rev II, 209 Megawatt. China installed the first major offshore wind farm outside of Europe – a 21 Megawatt, near Shanghai.1.日本海上风力资源概况In Japan, the cumulative capacity of onshore wind turbines has increased rapidly in recent years. Due to Japan’s particular conditions such as mountainous island and high population in plains, the necessity for development of offshore wind turbine generation technology has been gradually recognized. Most of European offshore wind turbines are available in near-shore areas, however, most of sea bottoms around Japan get quite deep as apart from coast lines, which causes some technical and economical difficulty. Based on a feasibility study, we have such a prospect that introducing offshore wind technology into Japan is feasible along coastlines or shallow areas at the initial stage, but new technology such as floating stations or sailing plants shall be developed for vast deep sea areas.Table 1. Estimation of offshore wind resources in Japan.Estimation of the Offshore Wind Energy ResourcesJapan has such a long total length of coast line as 33,000 km, which is about 7% of the total length of coast line in the world. Table 1 shows some attempts to estimate the offshore wind energy resources (Nagai et al. 1997, Fujii 1999, Nagai and Ushiyama 2000, Henderson et al. 2002). Depending on methods and conditions, the estimated values vary very much. Confining to near-shore area within 1 km distance from the coastlines, the offshore wind energy resources is evaluated as 93.6 - 255 TWh/year. If compared with the onshore wind energy resources of 34 TWh/year of Japan, the near-shore wind energy resources is 3 – 8 times of onshore potential.Offshore Wind AtlasAn offshore wind atlas was constructed using the GPV (Grid Point Value of numerical weather forecasting) data distributed by the Japan Meteorological Agency (NEF 2002). The Fig. 1 shows the annual averaged wind speed at 60 m heights above sea level. High annual average wind speed areas above 8 m/s are observed in the following five areas;Surroundings of Hokkaido (area-A),Near Akita prefecture (area-B),Between the Bousou sea area and the Ensyuunada sea area (area-C),Around the Izu islands (area-D),Japan plans to build 1,000MW offshore wind power by 2020A high-powered government panel has drafted a plan that calls for the establishment by 2020 of massive offshore wind farms capable of producing at least 1,000 megawatts of power, equivalent to roughly 10 typical nuclear power plants in Japan, a source familiar with the plan said Saturday.The panel — the comprehensive ocean policy headquarters headed by Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama — is planning to work out in about one year financing and other specifics of the plan that it hopes will reduce greenhouse gases and reinvigorate the economy of coastal regions, the source said.Oceanic wind farms require technological expertise including the development of large-scale windmills and specialty vessels for undertaking construction.The government is hoping they will create a large number of jobs as they are thought to have a far-reaching impact on a broad range of industries from steel to machinery and shipbuilding, the source said.Officials are hoping to include support for offshore wind farms in the government’s growth strategy to be formulated in June, the source said.Offshore wind farms do not pose typical hazards such as low-frequency noise associated with windmills on the ground but they are thought to cost much more in installation and post technological challenges in working out measures against earthquakes and typhoons.If they are to be built near a fishing ground, negotiations will also be necessary with local fishermen.In 2004, Japan’s first offshore wind farm started operating in the town of Setana in Hokkaido Prefecture but Japan lags far behind European nations in promoting offshore wind power generation.The government will likely consider support measures including subsidies or loans for research and development, as well as construction of power generation equipment, the source said.The government may also envision a market for power companies to buy power from a private business that starts an offshore wind farm, the source said.Also under consideration is backing laboratories and businesses experimenting power generation from oceanic waves and currents, according to the source.2. 日本政府政策日本政府综合海洋政策本部（由首相鸠山由纪夫任本部长）正在探讨的《海洋可再生能源战略》草案5月8日浮出水面，计划在海上建设风力发电设备，争取在2020年前发电量超过1000万千瓦，相当于10座核电站的发电量；此外还计划研发利用波浪和海潮的能源技术。