Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Meanwhile, wind power developers have faced signiicant siting chal-
lenges and persistent resistance from utilities. he costs for siting wind tur-
bines are so expensive in this densely populated nation that wind power
generation costs become inlated. Moreover, there have been reports of
wind power developers being forced to store electricity prior to selling it
into the power grid in order to mitigate power luctuations.
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hese factors,
along with political opponents that tend to exaggerate the true cost of wind
power generation,
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have resulted in wind power costs in Japan that do not
conlate with international experience. he government estimates the cost
of wind power in Japan to be ¥10-14 (US$0.10-0.14) per kilowatt hour,
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which is over double the cost in most other nations.
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here is also no indication that the government is going to fully inte-
grate the grid, which is a critical technical prerequisite for optimizing load
management. It continues to support the concept of private monopolies
controlling regional grids while liberalizing wholesale energy production to
allow renewable energy developers better access to the grids. he trouble
is that without a system for efectively integrating the regional grids, the
potential for renewable energy will be constrained by transmission and
distribution limitations.
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his is exacerbated by the fact that Japan's elec-
tricity system is built around two separate platforms with diferent power
frequencies. he Kansai (west) grid operates on 60 Hz and the Kanto (east)
grid operates on 50 Hz, necessitating the installation of frequency conver-
sion facilities.
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On a positive note, a new wind power technology is currently under devel-
opment in Japan: the wind lens.
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he wind lens utilizes a difuser shroud to
amplify the amount of wind funneled into the turbine. he result is a signii-
cant improvement in wind capture, estimated to be 300% greater than that
of existing turbines. If this type of development continues to progress to a
commercial stage, is possible that the enhanced economics of wind power
will make it hard to avoid supporting wind power.
9.5 INFLUENCES ON GOVERNMENT POLICY
9.5.1 Sociocultural
→
Political
In many respects, insuicient critical engagement on the part of the general
public toward activities of the state has been a silent enabler of nuclear power
development. During the pioneering era of nuclear power in the 1950s and
1960s, government eforts to accentuate the beneits of nuclear power and
downplay the risks went virtually uncontested by Japanese NGOs, media,
and opposing political groups. Even during the 1990s and early 2000s, when
