Wind Power News: Japan
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch to help keep readers informed about developments related to industrial wind energy. They are the products of the organizations or individuals noted.
Wind power has its own environmental problems
Wind power generation is expected to be a clean and environmentally friendly natural energy source, but a new kind of environmental problem has surfaced as infrasonic waves caused by windmills are suspected of causing health problems for some people.
Shinjuro Kondo, 76, who moved into Higashi-Izucho, Shizuoka Prefecture, 17 years ago, said, “Stiff shoulders, headaches, insomnia, hand tremors…Since February last year, soon after the test operation of windmills started, I developed various kinds of symptoms.”
Kondo’s neighborhood is about 350 meters away . . .
Japan's alternative energy plans ignore wind power
For years, wind farm operators in Hokkaido have hoped that submarine cables spanning the Tsugaru Strait to Honshu would help them feed Tokyo’s insatiable appetite for electricity with renewable energy.
Yet the three cables of Hokkaido-Honshu High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) Link, which bridge two utility companies’ grids, remain underused since their completion in 1979, according to the operator of the cables.
With a maximum capacity of 600 megawatts of electricity, which is enough to supply an average 200,000 households, the . . .
Something in the wind as mystery illnesses rise
Residents living near wind turbines are increasingly complaining of headaches, dizziness, insomnia and other ailments, sparking fears that the new energy source could pose a risk to public health.
Although the cause of the problem remains unclear, the Environment Ministry is investigating the possibility that low frequency sounds produced by the turbines are to blame.
The ministry is concerned that reports of ill health could spread as more wind turbines are built near residential areas.
Tsuyoshi Okawa’s family fell ill in . . .
Kansai Electric to build first wind farm
Japan’s second-biggest utility Kansai Electric Power Co (9503.T) said on Friday it would spend about 6 billion yen ($66.96 million) to build its first wind farm in western Japan to help cut carbon dioxide emissions.
The company said it would build 12 wind turbines with total capacity of 24 megawatts.
The facility, which is scheduled to start operations in December 2010, is projected to produce about 40 million kilowatt-hours of electricity a year, helping save about 14,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually. . . .
Bird strikes lead to delays in wind turbine projects
Operators of wind turbines are already under pressure to improve the structures’ quake-resistance strength. Now, they face another problem with nature: endangered birds flying into the turbines’ blades.
The bird strike problem has become so serious that measures to protect the fowl are slowing the spread of wind power as a source of electricity generation.
While wind power has strong support from the government, plans to build wind farms have been suspended, delayed or scaled down in at least . . .
Japan won't join international eco-agency
The government has decided not to join the International Renewable Energy Agency, a multinational organization tasked with the promotion of solar, wind and other forms of bioenergy to be launched next month, according to government sources.
The government said it would not be joining the body because the functions of IRENA overlap those of the International Energy Agency, in which Japan currently holds the seat of executive director.
Some observers have voiced concern, however, that the decision might be seen . . .
Locals seek change in plans for wind power plant to save wild birds
TOKYO — Local officials and a bird conservation group requested Monday that an electric power company and the government alter plans to build a wind power plant in Fukui Prefecture in order to prevent birds being killed.
Officials of the Kaga municipal government in Ishikawa Prefecture and of the Wild Bird Society of Japan visited Electric Power Development Co., the plant’s builder, and the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy in Tokyo to plead their case.
They argue that as . . .
Nature stifling wind power in Japan; Poor weather, geography point industry toward ocean
About a 2 1/2-hour drive east of central Tokyo, on the edge of the Kanto plain, stands one of the closest wind farms to the capital, whirring away as it generates up to 25,500 kw of clean electricity.
Here in the fishing port of Choshi, Chiba Prefecture, warm and cold currents meet offshore in the Pacific Ocean, creating strong winds that feed about 30 of the 1,400 windmills erected nationwide.
Wind power is drawing increased attention as carbon dioxide emissions accelerate global . . .
Japan wind farm building slows on tighter rules
Japan’s wind power industry installed only 185 megawatts (MW) of capacity in the year ended in March, 2008, less than half of what it installed in 2006/07, as tighter regulations delayed the contruction of wind farms.
The stricter guidelines, which stipulate that wind turbines must clear the same safety regulations that apply to tall buildings, were introduced last summer following a scandal in 2005 over falsified engineering data for apartment blocks. Critics say the new rules are costly to comply with . . .
Japan's largest utility to build its first wind farm
Japan’s biggest utility Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said on Thursday it would build its first wind farm in Shizuoka Prefecture, west of Tokyo, to cut carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
TEPCO said it received permission from the local governments on Thursday to build 11 wind turbines with total capacity of 18.37 megawatts.
The facility, which is scheduled to start commercial operations in October 2011, is projected to reduce 13,000 tonnes of CO2 a year, the company said. It declined to disclose how . . .
