First Japanese Offshore Wind Farm

The Japanese government says its first electricity-generating wind farm to be built off the country’s coast will be ready to start in January 2013

According to 'The Japan Daily Press' the Government’s feed-in tariffs have just gone into effect this month , making electricity generated from renewable resources like solar and wind to be sold at higher prices for the next 20 years. This wind farm, along with announced plans for the construction of Japan’s largest solar panel farms , is one of the first real signs that the country is making steps to reduce its reliance on nuclear power.

This first wind farm will be built to the east of Tokyo, off the coast of Choshi, and there are already plans to have a second wind farm, capable of producing 2 megawatts of electricity starting next May, to be built off the coast of Kitakyushu, in southwestern Japan.

While this 2.4 megawatt wind farm has been in the works for years now, it is finally coming into fruition just after Japan’s first restart of a nuclear power plant since the March 2011 crisis in Fukushima Prefecture.

In addition the push for solar power , Japan hopes within several years to construct numerous offshore wind farms, learning from the U.K., which used its windy shorelines to great advantage. In May of this year, Seajacks, a British company that builds wind powered generators, was jointly purchased by six of Japan’s largest banks for roughly $252 million.