The Eurus Energy Kunimi-yama wind farm in Japan Japan has drawn up a plan to expand its electricity grid in the north to allow for the addition of several gigawatts of wind power.
The Agency for Natural Resources and Energy (ANRE), a department in the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), estimates that there are around 6GW in wind energy resources in northern Hokkaido, Japan?s northernmost island.
But the area?s small population means it does not have the grid capacity to support more wind farms.
Under a plan revealed last month, ANRE is seeking 25 billion yen ($318m) from the Ministry of Finance to pay for half the investment required by new grid lines transmitting electricity from wind farms in the north to the island?s largest cities such as Sapporo.
Developers will be expected to pay the rest of the investment.
The proposal would allow another 2-2.5GW of new wind power capacity to be added in the region, according to a presentation by ANRE at a conference last month.
It could include the 1GW of projects that mobile phone company Softbank is seeking to build in Hokkaido.
Japan currently has only 2.5GW of wind power capacity installed but with the phase-out of nuclear power, wind and other renewables are set to grow much more rapidly.
The country?s Ministry of Environment said last year that Japan has the resources to build 280GW of onshore wind capacity and 1,600GW offshore.
Yet the country?s windiest regions currently lack the transmission capability to send new wind power to energy-hungry areas such as Tokyo.
ANRE also wants to expand the grid in north-west Tohoku, a region in the north of Japan?s main island, to accommodate more wind power there.
It is expecting to have a response from the Ministry of Finance on its initial plan for Hokkaido before the end of the year, an ANRE official tells Recharge.
It would then be put to parliament in 2013.
ANRE is still exploring where the new grid lines on Hokkaido would be built, he adds.
Satoshi Shima, general manager of the Softbank president?s office and a board member of the Japan Renewable Energy Foundation, has also called for an increase in the Hokkaido - Honsyu undersea grid connection to help transmit wind power to Japan?s capital and other major cities.
Published: Monday, October 8 2012
Source: http://www.rechargenews.com/energy/wind/article324760.ece?WT.mc_id=rechargenews_rss
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