Alternative Energy Development in Japan

Japan is a densely populated country, and that makes the Japanese market more
difficult compared with other markets. If we utilize the possibilities of near-
shore installations or even offshore installations in the future, that will give us
the possibility of continued use of wind energy. If we go offshore, it's more
expensive because the construction of foundations is expensive. But often the wind
is stronger offshore, and that can offset the higher costs. We're getting more and
more competitive with our equipment. The price�if you measure it per kilowatt-hour
produced�is going lower, due to the fact that turbines are getting more efficient.
So we're creating increased interest in wind energy. If you compare it to other
renewable energy sources, wind is by far the most competitive today. If we're able
to utilize sites close to the sea or at sea with good wind machines, then the price
per kilowatt-hour is competitive against other sources of energy, go the words of
Svend Sigaard, who happens to be president and CEO of the world's largest wind
turbine maker, Vestas wind systems out of Denmark. Vestas is heavily involved in
investments of capital into helping Japan expand its wind turbine power generating
capacity. It is seeking to get offshore installations put into place in a nation
that it says is ready for the fruits of investment into alternative energy research
and development.

The Japanese know that they cannot become subservient to the energy supply dictates
of foreign nations�World War II taught them that, as the US decimated their oil
supply lines and crippled their military machine. They need to produce energy of
their own, and they being an isolated island nation with few natural resources that
are conducive to energy production as it is defined now are very open to foreign
investment and foreign development as well as the prospect of technological
innovation that can make them independent. Allowing corporations such as Vestas to
get the nation running on more wind-produced energy is a step in the right
direction for the Japanese people.

The production of energy through what is known as microhydoelectric power plants

has also been catching on in Japan. Japan has a myriad rivers and mountain streams,
and these are ideally suited places for the putting up of microhydroelectric power
plants, which are defined by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development
Organization as power plants run by water which have a maximum output of 100
kilowatts or less. By comparison, �minihydroelectric� power plants can put out up
to 1000 kilowatts of electrical energy.

In Japan, the small-scaled mini- and micro-hydroelectric power plants have been
regarded for a considerable time as being suitable for creating electricity in
mountainous regions, but they have through refinement come to be regarded as
excellent for Japanese cities as well. Kawasaki City Waterworks, Japan Natural
Energy Company, and Tokyo Electric Power Company have all been involved in the
development of small-scale hydroelectric power plants within Japanese cities.