Efforts to tap into the latent potential of offshore wind power generation in Kyushu are heating up. Tests are underway or scheduled at sites in Fukuoka and Nagasaki, and estimates place the potential for wind power generation in Kyushu, where offshore winds are favorable, at 17 times the current output of Kyushu Electric Power. The Ministry of the Environment will begin one test off the coast of the Goto Islands in Nagasaki, where it has installed 22-meter floating wind turbine that can produce up to 100 kW of power. Kyushu University is conducting another trial in Hakata Bay. It plans to expand a floating platform it equipped with solar panels and its originally-developed wind-lens turbines in late 2011 in an effort to “realize a floating energy farm”. Given the depth of Japan’s surrounding waters, the development of offshore wind power technologies will be the key to dramatically expanding the use of renewable energy in Japan. Source: Nishinippon Shimbun, Mar. 21
