The Tokyo Electric Power Company, Inc. (TEPCO) will launch the "Experimental Study on 
Offshore Wind Power Generation Systems" (hereinafter "the Study") in June this year. 
As a joint research project with the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development 
Organization (NEDO), the Study aims to establish methods for operating and maintaining 
offshore wind turbines and formulate design guidelines for wind power generation 
systems by setting up a fixed-type offshore wind power generation facility about 3 km 
off the southern coast of Choshi, Chiba.

Prior to the Study, TEPCO started the "Experimental Study on Offshore Wind Observation 
Systems" in August 2009 in coordination with the University of Tokyo as a project 
entrusted by NEDO. The aim of this project is to monitor meteorological and hydrographic 
conditions, including wind and wave conditions, by building an offshore wind observation 
tower in the target sea area.

The Study is an extension of this earlier project and will be a next step toward the 
commercialization of offshore wind power generation. In the Study, a fixed-type offshore 
wind power generation facility running a wind turbine equipped with a 90-meter diameter 
rotor will be operated from June 2010 (slated) to March 2014 in the target sea area. 
Its objective is to establish methods for designing, installing, operating and 
maintaining wind power generation systems in the hostile natural environment in the 
seas near Japan, and to identify the environmental effects of offshore wind power 
generation facilities. 

The outcome of the Study, along with that of past studies, is expected to be used by 
NEDO for achieving its goal of establishing offshore wind power generation technologies 
suited to the natural environment of Japan.

As part of efforts to increase the use of renewable energy, TEPCO will remain committed 
to studies to develop safe and cost-effective offshore wind power generation systems to 
make use of wind energy on the sea, where wind conditions are better than on shore. 

Appendix: Outline of the Experimental Study on Offshore Wind Power Generation Systems
                                                                          (PDF 60.3KB)