Energy / Climate Change

May 22, 2003

 

Promoting Wind Power Generation at Ports and Harbors

Keywords: Environmental Technology Government Renewable Energy 

On March 4, 2003, the Ports and Harbors Bureau of Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport held the first meeting of an advisory panel for promoting wind power generation in ports and harbors.

In recent years, wind power generation is being actively introduced around Japan. Meanwhile, demand has been growing among power companies to install wind turbines in favorably located ports and harbors, since the wind is stronger and steadier in coastal and offshore areas than inland.

Presently, wind turbines are installed at the Ports of Muroran in Hokkaido, Naoetsu in Niigata Prefecture, Chiba in Chiba Prefecture, Omaezaki in Shizuoka Prefecture and Tsushi in Hyogo Prefecture. In addition, new wind turbines were under construction at five ports, including Kitakyushu in Fukuoka Prefecture, as of February 28, 2003. Yet, the total capacity of wind power generated at ports and harbors is still limited.

Ports and harbors have many advantages over inland or coastal areas, such as stronger and more constant winds, less concern regarding noise and vibration, and ease of shipping large construction materials.

The bureau intends to encourage private enterprises and port authorities to introduce wind power generation through measures such as opening up ports and harbors for large-scale commercial wind power generation projects, and broadening support for port authorities to promote wind power generation.

With ongoing discussions aimed at joint efforts among industrial, governmental and academic sectors, the bureau plans to put promoting measures into action based on a variety of research and studies.



Posted: 2003/05/22 08:37:00 AM
Japanese version

 

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