Japan switched on its second experimental commercial floating turbine off the coast of Fukushima. The 2MW Hitachi turbine, which was unveiled in June this year, was switched on by Kazuyoshi Akaba, state minister of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), and Fukushima governor Yuhei Sato.
The consortium of eleven companies led by Marubeni and including the University of Tokyo, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), Mitsui & Co., Furukawa Electric and Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal are planning to add two further 7W floating offshore turbines at the same location by summer-autumn 2014. The first floating turbine was launched at the end of October by Nobuteru Ishihara, Japan’s Minister of Environment (MOE) of the city of Goto in the Nagasaki prefecture. Both Japan’s floating offshore wind sites, at Goto/Kabashima and Fukushima, use Hitachi's downwind 2MW turbines.
