Japan Works on Transmission Grids to Increase Wind Energy Capacity

Japanese Government has announced that it will start a transmission grid project in April, which will boost the country’s current wind energy capacity by approximately 600%, Oilprice.com news site informs.

The project will be carried out over 10 years, throughout which the necessary funds will be provided to build transmission grids. The companies that will be using the grids will pay fees, which will cover the provided funds.

Hokkaido Electric Power Co. and Tohoku Electric Power Co. have already faced the difficulty of insufficient funds, when they placed the first transmission lines to connect wind farms and could not install a sufficient number of lines to use the entire wind capacity available, the news site writes.

Japan is eager to use its renewable resources, especially wind, as it pushes to move away from nuclear energy. The country is planning to begin the construction of the world’s largest offshore wind farm in July, which will have a total capacity of 1 GW and will be placed 16 kilometers off the coast of Fukushima.

On this path, new technologies are the key to addressing Japan’s energy challenges, DNV KEMA said last year.

“The energy transition to systems with a 30-40% renewables share is technically feasible. However, smart grids are needed to accommodate more renewables, leading finally to bi-directional power and information flows. Here, Japan’s industry can use its great advances on the information technology side,” said DNV KEMA’s Global Director of Electricity Transmission & Distribution, Dr Gunnar Heymann, adding: “As simple as it is, the power system remains an interconnected physical system. Therefore, the lessons learned from best practices in the world’s other main energy markets could help stakeholders in the Japanese energy sector to achieve these ambitious goals.”

[mappress]
Offshore WIND Staff, February 12, 2013; Image: uchicago