JAPAN FLOATS SUN-WIND-WAVE DEVICE

Japan develops hybrid offshore platform; Japanese researchers are developing a platform to harvest ocean energy, but wind turbines and solar arrays are to be installed above water.
Craig Morris, 27 July 2011 (Renewables International)

"Japanese researchers…[have tested] a hybrid offshore [solar and wind] generator…[T]he turbine has already been tested in the Chinese desert…[and are now] installing the 3.6 kilowatt turbines on an 18-meter floating, semi-submersible platform in Hakata Bay to test their suitability in local wind and wave conditions…[and] see how the turbines and the platform hold up in saltwater.

"The platform itself is 18 meters in diameter and will be put into the water in the fall of 2011. The platform is to be able to generate power from waves and the tides. Shaped as a hexagon, the platforms can be locked into each other to provide a uniform single structure that can be expanded."

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"In a second stage, a larger platform 60 meters across will be installed two kilometers off the coast. The wind turbines installed on top are then to have a capacity of 100 kilowatts...In stage 3, the platforms will reach a diameter of 150 meters and use full-fledged two-megawatt wind turbines. Part of the remaining space between the turbines atop the platform can then be used to harvest solar energy, making the hexagon a harvester of wind, ocean, and solar energy.

"The nuclear accident in the Fukushima is focusing attention in Japan on the potential of renewable energy…[and] phase out nuclear power…"