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Alternative Energy Development in Japan

Japan is a densely populated country, and that makes the Japanese market more di
fficult compared with other markets. If we utilize the possibilities of near-sho
re installations or even offshore installations in the future, that will give us
the possibility of continued use of wind energy. If we go offshore, it's more e
xpensive because the construction of foundations is expensive. But often the win
d is stronger offshore, and that can offset the higher costs. We're getting more
and more competitive with our equipment. The price if you measure it per kilowatt
-hour produced is going lower, due to the fact that turbines are getting more effi
cient. So we're creating increased interest in wind energy. If you compare it to
other renewable energy sources, wind is by far the most competitive today. If w
e're able to utilize sites close to the sea or at sea with good wind machines, t
hen the price per kilowatt-hour is competitive against other sources of energy,
go the words of Svend Sigaard, who happens to be president and CEO of the world'
s largest wind turbine maker, Vestas wind systems out of Denmark. Vestas is heav
ily involved in investments of capital into helping Japan expand its wind turbin
e power generating capacity. It is seeking to get offshore installations put int
o place in a nation that it says is ready for the fruits of investment into alte
rnative energy research and development.
The Japanese know that they cannot become subservient to the energy supply dicta
tes of foreign nations World War II taught them that, as the US decimated their oi
l supply lines and crippled their military machine. They need to produce energy
of their own, and they being an isolated island nation with few natural resource
s that are conducive to energy production as it is defined now are very open to
foreign investment and foreign development as well as the prospect of technologi
cal innovation that can make them independent. Allowing corporations such as Ves
tas to get the nation running on more wind-produced energy is a step in the righ
t direction for the Japanese people.
The production of energy through what is known as microhydoelectric power plants
has also been catching on in Japan. Japan has a myriad rivers and mountain stre
ams, and these are ideally suited places for the putting up of microhydroelectri
c power plants, which are defined by the New Energy and Industrial Technology De
velopment Organization as power plants run by water which have a maximum output
of 100 kilowatts or less. By comparison, minihydroelectric power plants can put ou
t up to 1000 kilowatts of electrical energy.
In Japan, the small-scaled mini- and micro-hydroelectric power plants have been
regarded for a considerable time as being suitable for creating electricity in m
ountainous regions, but they have through refinement come to be regarded as exce
llent for Japanese cities as well. Kawasaki City Waterworks, Japan Natural Energ
y Company, and Tokyo Electric Power Company have all been involved in the develo
pment of small-scale hydroelectric power plants within Japanese cities.

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