Thursday, July 12, 2012

No. 560: Increasing the generation capacity of the offshore wind power system (July 12, 2012)

Technology:
Hitachi will try to increase the generation capacity of its offshore wind power system. Because the competition of offshore wind power generation intensifies worldwide, the company wishes to differentiate its products by focusing higher generation capacity. The model it develops is the so-called “down wind” model that installs windmills against the wind direction. Because windmills of the “down wind” model catch wind blowing upward from beneath directly, the “down wind” model has an 8% higher output than the conventional model.  

Hitachi wishes to increase the generation capacity by 2.5 times from the present level and build an offshore wind power system with an output of 5,000 kW. It plans to conduct demonstration experiment in 2014. It has already obtained orders for about 70 units of its system with an output of 2,000 kW. A wind generation system consists of 10,000 to 20,000 parts. Accordingly, developing a wind generation system involves lots of kinds of industrial fields, stimulating the labor market. According to a survey, the market related to wind generation will increase 8 times over the level in 2011 to over 3,000 billion yen in 2030. 

Hitachi's offshore wind generation system operating in Ibaraki Prefecture. It has been running since July 2010. 

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