Japan reluctant to use wind power

Japan Wind Power Opposition underscores renewable energy hurdles as wind turbines face aesthetic backlash, limited coastal and mountainous siting, utility reluctance, and protests like Shinkamigoto in Nagasaki, while solar power gains broad grid-friendly acceptance.

Although Japan is definitely feeling the nudge to implement renewable energy, wind-generated energy has been slow to take off.

Many factors are contributing to wind power's unwelcome reception in the country, even as resident support continues to grow in some areas, including the fact that power utility companies are hesitant to buy power from private-sector power companies.

Solar power has enjoyed a nationwide surge, but solar panels can be installed anywhere. In Japan, they can be found everywhere: on houses, in peach orchards, on floating installations as well, even serving as roof paneling for civic centers and public spaces. When arrayed in a farm, they are unobtrusive, low to the ground and quiet. Since they can go anywhere, they are widely accepted and tolerated aesthetically. Not so with wind turbines.

Most of Japan's population is huddled on the coast and in valleys — relatively flat terrain that is easy to build on. The rest of the land is home to uninhabited, nearly pristine, mountainous landscape. While Japan is blessed with strong, steady winds in the coastal and mountainous regions, residents find that wind turbines are not pleasing to the eye for many. There is little optimal land to work with after removing mountain ranges and coastlines from potential construction sites.

One small windfarm, scheduled for construction in Shinkamigoto on Nakadori Island, in the Nagasaki prefecture, even as efforts to triple market share advance nationally, has been protested so much that it is being placed on indefinite hold until negotiations can be resumed. Fudo Keikaku, meaning "Wind and Earth Planning," is a non-profit organization dedicated to developing independent wind projects devoted to powering small communities. The small, 1,500-kilowatt windfarm was originally scheduled for completion early next year.

Related News

• Electricity Forum News

• Renewable Energy News