Offshore A sea change


As an island nation used to strong gusts, Japan should be a global leader in wind energy. But with rugged geography stymieing investment and unreliable cables currently the only way to get power from offshore turbines back to shore, the country has struggled to meet its renewable quotas. Masahiro Ito hopes to change that. The co-founder of PowerX, he has ambitious plans to carry clean power on special ships to Japan and beyond. Andrea Valentino talks to Ito to learn about the inspiration behind PowerX, how his system will work in practice and why it could eventually herald the development of a truly global market for wind power.


environmental power. However, as Ito explains, he means something slightly different. “The international relationships between nations, the wars we’ve fought, the treaties we've brokered, the international trade routes we’ve crafted for over a century.” For Ito, the CEO and co-founder at PowerX, “all of that really is centred on the world’s reliance on carbon fuels”. Though he may not have been thinking it explicitly, this is undoubtedly true of Ito’s home nation. Japan,


A


bout halfway through the interview, Masahiro Ito reflects on how fossil fuels sculpt the world. Of course, everyone knows their catastrophic


after all, conquered half the Pacific in its desperate hunt for oil – only to reap an Allied Armageddon in return. And though Japan today is unrecognisable from its militaristic forebear, this island democracy is still feverish about securing energy for its 125 million citizens. Since 1945, imported oil has played a key, if diminishing, role in keeping the country powered, while nuclear stations were prized until the Fukushima disaster a decade ago. Coal is another important part of the puzzle, with 22 new plants planned between 2020 and 2025. More recently, however, Japan has followed the developed world in


World Wind Technology / www.worldwind-technology.com


23


PowerX


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33