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Sixteen kilometres off the coast of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Reactor, Japanese government officials plan to build a one-gigawatt wind farm.
One-hundred and forty-three floating turbines will be tethered to the ocean floor. The turbines, which will stand 200-metres high and use ballast to keep them upright, will be tied into the existing electrical infrastructure left over from the permanently mothballed nuclear power plant.
Project completion is expected by 2020.
The world’s largest operating wind farm is Greater Gabbard, located off the coast of southern England and generating 504 MW. Greater Gabbard cost C$1.02 billion to C$2.37 billion to build.
While Japan’s one gigawatt is large, the wind turbines will be a long way off from rivalling Fukushima, which was capable of producing 4.7 gigawatts when it was operational.
Creative commons image by David Morris
