Japan switches on Fukushima’s floating wind turbine

November 12, 2013 · Filed under Going Green, Renewable Energy, Sustainability · Tagged climate, electricity, environment, floating wind turbine, Fukushima, Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, Go Green, green energy, japan, renewable energy, wind energy

A floating wind turbine off Japan’s east coast, near the devastated Fukushima nuclear plant, started generating power.

The turbine, equipped with 80-metre-long blades, is placed about 20 kilometres from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. It will produce up to 2 megawatts of electricity, said a consortium of 10 Japanese companies and the University of Tokyo.

The consortium hopes the publicly-funded pilot project will help Fukushima become the centre of a renewable energy industry, and create jobs in the region hit by the country’s worst nuclear accident in 2011.

The consortium plans to install two more 7-megawatt turbines by March 2015.

Before the Fukushima disaster, nuclear-generated electricity made up about 30 per cent of Japan’s power output, but all of Japan’s 50 nuclear reactors are currently offline.

The Fukushima plant suffered meltdowns at three of its six reactors after a tsunami swept through the complex in March 2011.

SOURCE: http://www.timeslive.co.za/scitech/2013/11/11/japan-switches-on-fukushima-s-floating-wind-turbine