Japan to build world's largest offshore wind farm

[Bonobo]

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23082-japan-to-build-worlds-largest-offshore-wind-farm.html

By 2020, the plan is to build a total of 143 wind turbines on platforms 16 kilometres off the coast of Fukushima, home to the stricken Daiichi nuclear reactor that hit the headlines in March 2011 when it was damaged by an earthquake and tsunami.

The wind farm, which will generate 1 gigawatt of power once completed, is part of a national plan to increase renewable energy resources following the post-tsunami shutdown of the nation's 54 nuclear reactors. Only two have since come back online.

The project is part of Fukushima's plan to become completely energy self-sufficient by 2040, using renewable sources alone. The prefecture is also set to build the country's biggest solar park.

The wind farm will surpass the 504 megawatts generated by the 140 turbines at the Greater Gabbard farm off the coast of Suffolk, UK – currently the world's largest farm. This accolade will soon pass to the London Array in the Thames Estuary, where 175 turbines will produce 630 megawatts of power when it comes online later this year. The Fukushima farm will beat this, too.

[Politicalboi]

1. Japan

A country that LEARNS from it's mistakes. We on the other hand need a full blown melt down before we will even realize the danger we put ourselves in. I bet Japan doesn't do fracking either. I wonder if the giant squids found in Ca are from Fukushima, or is it just another species.

[Nihil]

3. Yes to your main point but no, just "No", to your last line ...

> I wonder if the giant squids found in Ca are from Fukushima, or is it just another species.

[Nihil]

2. Smart place to put it ...

... seeing as how the primary interface to the distribution infrastructure is already
in place (and not in use) it will cut out a large chunk of the cost that would be
associated with a similar sized "green field" ("blue water"?) project.

(Shame that the UK will lose its lead in this area but at least they held it for a while.)

[ReRe]

4. But are they....

....earthquake & tsunami-proof? Go for it, Japan. If the world keeps going, we will be the last industrialized nation in the world to get renewable energy. Race to the bottom, 'ya know...

[Warren Stupidity]

5. Yes but if there is another tsunami those windmills could FALL OVER!!!!!!!!

[physioex]

26. Not exactly......

My understanding is a Tsunami gains strength exponentially the closer it comes to shore. If you had a vessel like a ship, the best thing you could do is to be as far away from land as possible. According to the article the windmills are 16km away which should keep them safe.

[Warren Stupidity]

28. Apparently I needed a sarcasm smilie.

[physioex]

29. I will let it go this time, consider yourself warned. EOM

[phantom power]

6. So 9 years after the tsunami they'll have replaced 2% of their nuclear electricity?

That's a lot of LNG imports

[Bonobo]

8. 9 years? What? nt

[phantom power]

9. tick tock....

[Bonobo]

10. We almost made it through the summer with all the nukes turned off.

Japanese people have a tiny energy footprint compared to US.

Here, everyone hangs there laundry and we still ride bikes en masse.

I have hope.

[wtmusic]

11. Japanese people have a huge carbon footprint with the nukes turned off.

That's what matters.

[Bonobo]

14. Okay. Check. "Energy footprint" = unimportant. nt

[wtmusic]

15. That's correct.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with expending all the energy you want, as long as it's clean.

Any extra is radiated harmlessly out to space.

Repeat: energy footprint = unimportant.

[Bonobo]

21. I suppose if there was an unlimited supply of clean energy, that would be true.

But that isn't the world we live in so I guess you're just trying to make an academic argument.

[wtmusic]

22. Japan had a nearly unlimited supply of clean energy

and fortunately Abe plans to bring it back.

In the meantime, thanks for using less of the dirty stuff.

[Bonobo]

23. Nuclear is "clean" even though it creates poisonous waste that we don't know how to dispose of? nt

[joshcryer]

24. We know perfectly well how to dispose of it.

It's called the breeder reactor. IFR or LFTR or variants would allow us to have nuclear waste that is mostly inert in 300 years as opposed to the current 100k years that we have to store current waste. This, btw, is centuries shorter than the time CO2 will affect our climate.

All the while generating CO2 free sustainable energy.

[wtmusic]

25. That book you're linking to...

Looks like the ski industry wouldn't be a great long term investment.

[joshcryer]

27. I highly recommend it. It's a really relaxing read.

[wtmusic]

30. Thanks, will check it out. nt

[joshcryer]

19. Your post #7 is somewhat heartening at least.

It would be an utter shame for the Japanese people to forgo sustainable energy sources in exchange for LGN and coal. The US is certainly looking to export its coal somewhere, and if Japan bites, they will be highly dependent on a dwindling fossil fuel resource.

[Demo_Chris]

12. The Tsunami in Japan was on 3-11-11

[phantom power]

13. exactly - on 2020 it will have been 9 years

[joshcryer]

18. Math, you can do it!

[Dead_Parrot]

20. BURN THE HERETIC!!! nt

[joshcryer]

16. The US fracking industry must be salivating.

[wtmusic]

7. "It's goodbye nuclear, hello renewables"? Author is in denial.

"Newly appointed Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has voiced his willingness to build new nuclear reactors despite widespread public opposition to atomic energy since the 2011 crisis at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, reports said yesterday.

During an interview on Sunday with television network TBS, Abe said new reactors would be different from those at the Fukushima plant that were crippled by the earthquake and tsunami of 2011, major news outlets reporterd.

“New reactors will be totally different from the ones built 40 years ago, those at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant that caused the crisis,” Abe was quoted by the Mainichi Shimbun daily as saying."

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2013/01/01/2003551486

They will build the pretty sea-pinwheels to please the activists, then get down to the business of creating power for the rest of Japan.

[joshcryer]

17. One can only hope they go after Gen IV.

If anyone can do it, it's the Japanese (being a country which has relied on nuclear for so long). I wish them the best of luck.