Environment Wind Spins the Future: The Story of Wind Power Generation in Kuzumaki Town - June 1996

Environment Wind Spins the Future: The Story of Wind Power Generation in Kuzumaki Town - June 1996
In June 1996, the town of Kuzumaki in Iwate Prefecture installed a new type of small wind turbine generator in the town. At the time, renewable energy was just beginning to attract attention in Japan, and its practical application by a local government was particularly rare. The wind turbine was installed on a hill in a dairy farming area, and the stable wind conditions were utilized to supply electricity to the town's public facilities, with any surplus sold to the town. The project aimed to achieve both energy self-sufficiency and environmental conservation in the region, and a survey was conducted with a view to expanding the project in the future. Although the technology of the time was less efficient than today's large wind turbines, it was low-cost, low-noise, and had little impact on the landscape, making it possible to coexist with the local community. The background was the energy diversification policy of the 1990s and the growing international momentum for the prev
ention of global warming.