Introducing wind power in island areas where typhoons frequently hit and Adaptation to stronger typhoons

The Okinawa Electric Power Co.,Inc.

Outline

In small islands area of Okinawa prefecture in Japan where the Okinawa Electric Power Co.,Inc.(OEPC) supplies electricity, it is desirable to introduce wind power generation equipment, which is a renewable energy, in order to achieve a low-carbon society and to reduce the fuel cost of diessel power station in remote islands.
However, in island areas where typhoons frequently occur, there is problems of both salt damage and strong wind that damaging the Wind turbine(WT), which make it difficult to introduce wind power generation.
As a countermeasure, we adopt the perspective of not seeking the strength of a windmill enduring the strong wind but avoiding it by tilting down to the ground with a view to adaptation. OEPC introduced a tiltable wind power generation facility capable of avoiding strong wind such as typhoons in the remote islands of the prefecture for the first time in Japan. The fact has been confirmed that it could work without damage even in island areas where typhoons frequently hit.
The introduction of the tiltable WT is expected to be contributing to solve the issues for the introduction of renewable energy in Oceania area where the same problems as Okinawa deem to occur.

Description

[Introduction of tiltable wind turbine in small islands]
Our tiltable windmills has a tower produced in Japan based on GEV-MP-C of the French Vergnet Company and we were able to introduce the most suitable windmill by using Nasser of GEV-MP-C.
Since the windmill have characteristic mentioned below, the tiltable wind turbine solved the problem of increasing cost of restoring damage caused by strong winds and prolonging the restoration period in islands.
Also, we regard the tiltable wind turbine as an adaptation measure to introduce renewable energy in the situation where the climate change may cause a typhoon to intensify.
OPEC believe that our knowledge and technology cultivated in Okinawa area can contribute to solving problems in Oceania area where the same problems as Okinawa seems to be occurred.

[Characteristic]
1. Typhoon or a cyclone-proof
In case of a typhoon or a cyclone, the wind turbine can be tilted down and secure to the ground. Lowering operation takes only about an hour.
2. Earthquake-proof
The guyed tower’s adaptable architecture also proves efficient in areas prone to seismic activity.
3. Ground-level Maintenance
Thanks to the guyed tower, all the maintenance operations can be done at the ground level. This unique system largely reduced maintenance cost and dramatically shortened stopping time of wind turbines.
4. Reduced Foundation
The light guyed tower requires a very small foundation. Therefore, the amount of concrete can be largely reduced comparing to typical wind turbines in the market.

[Introduction / spread situation]
・ Hateruma Island (output: 245kW x 2)
・ Minami-Daitojima Island (output: 245kW x 2)
・ Aguni Island (output: 245kW x 1)
・ Tarama Island (output: 245kW x 2)
・ Kingdom of Tonga (output: 275kW x 5)