Floating wind farms to be moored off ill-fated Fukushima

It’s also about replacing a symbol of catastrophic failure with a symbol of hope.

Japan, which has now abandoned nuclear energy as a major source of future electrical power, is turning to a new technology: floating wind turbines grouped into floating wind farms. Offshore wind is seen as an important resource to help bridge the massive energy gap that will occur following Japan’s renunciation of nuclear energy last year.

Ironically, Japan intends to float the first of these unique turbines off Fukushima Prefecture, which gained notoriety in 2011 as site of the world’s worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl. Work on the project is expected to begin this March.

A floating wind farm consists of wind turbines mounted on floating platforms that allow turbines to generate electricity in deeper water depths where bottom-mounted towers are not feasible. Farther from the coast, winds are generally stronger and steadier since there are no obstructions to wind flow.

Marubeni Corporation, one of Japan’s largest general trading companies, is leading a consortium of Japanese firms that will finalize a deal to build an experimental 12 megawatt floating wind farm in waters off Fukushima, site of the ill-starred Daiichi Fukushima nuclear power plant.

The floating wind farm should be installed by late 2016. Funding will be sourced from a reconstruction budget set up by the government following the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

Japanese industrial conglomerates Nippon Steel, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Mitsui Construction are part of the Marubeni-led consortium.

Marubeni has the experience to lead the floating wind farm project. In September 2011, Marubeni acquired a 49.9% stake in DONG Energy’s 172 MW Gunfleet Sands offshore wind farm located off the Essex coast in the United Kingdom.

The acquisition increased Marubeni’s total worldwide power generating capacity to 8.8 GW, of which 450 MW comes from renewable energy sources.

The Japanese government has apparently thrown its weight behind the project. Its Agency for Natural Resources and Energy last year said it would set aside US$261 million for the project.

In embracing wind as a national power source, Japan is confirming its decision to discontinue the building of 14 more nuclear reactors. Last year, the Cabinet approved a five-year science and technology plan that de-emphasizes next generation nuclear technology in favor of renewable energy.