TEPCO bases wind research on Japan's environment

TEPCO will launch the "Experimental Study on Offshore Wind Power Generation Systems" in June.

As a joint research project with the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization, the Study aims to establish methods for operating and maintaining offshore wind turbines and formulate design guidelines for wind power generation systems by setting up a fixed-type offshore wind power generation facility about 3 km off the southern coast of Choshi, Chiba.

Prior to the Study, TEPCO started the "Experimental Study on Offshore Wind Observation Systems" in August 2009 in coordination with the University of Tokyo as a project entrusted by NEDO. The aim of this project is to monitor meteorological and hydrographic conditions, including wind and wave conditions, by building an offshore wind observation tower in the target sea area.

The Study is an extension of this earlier project and will be a next step toward the commercialisation of offshore wind power generation. In the Study, a fixed-type offshore wind power generation facility running a wind turbine equipped with a 90-meter diameter rotor will be operated from June 2010 (slated) to March 2014 in the target sea area.

Its objective is to establish methods for designing, installing, operating and maintaining wind power generation systems in the hostile natural environment in the seas near Japan, and to identify the environmental effects of offshore wind power
generation facilities.

The outcome of the Study, along with that of past studies, is expected to be used by NEDO for achieving its goal of establishing offshore wind power generation technologies suited to the natural environment of Japan.