Alternative Energy Development in Japan
Japan is a densely populated country, and that makes
the Japanese market more difficult compared with other markets. If we
utilize the possibilities of near-shore 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 expensive
because the construction of foundations is expensive. But often the wind
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 efficient. 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 we're able to
utilize sites close to the sea or at sea with good wind machines, then
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 heavily involved in investments of capital into
helping Japan expand its wind turbine power generating capacity. It is
seeking to get offshore installations put into place in a nation that it
says is ready for the fruits of investment into alternative energy
research and development.
The Japanese know that they cannot become subservient to the energy
supply dictates of foreign nations—World War II taught them that, as the
US decimated their oil 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 resources 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 technological innovation
that can make them independent. Allowing corporations such as Vestas to
get the nation running on more wind-produced energy is a step in the
right 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 streams, and these are ideally suited places for the
putting up of microhydroelectric power plants, which are defined by the
New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization as power
plants run by water which have a maximum output of 100 kilowatts or
less. By comparison, “minihydroelectric” power plants can put out 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 mountainous regions, but they have through
refinement come to be regarded as excellent for Japanese cities as well.
Kawasaki City Waterworks, Japan Natural Energy Company, and Tokyo
Electric Power Company have all been involved in the development of
small-scale hydroelectric power plants within Japanese cities.
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