Wind Power Generation in Konagai Town, Nagasaki Prefecture - 2004

Wind Power Generation in Konagai Town, Nagasaki Prefecture - 2004
In the early 2000s, Japan was facing a national challenge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as the Kyoto Protocol was about to take effect. The government accepted the protocol in 2002, and in 2003 the RPS system, which required electric utilities to use a certain percentage of new energy, came into effect, encouraging the introduction of renewable energy sources such as wind power and biomass power generation. The renewable energy market was still in its infancy, and there was strong criticism of its high cost and instability, but it was a time when local governments were beginning to take on the challenge on their own.

The town of Konagai in Nagasaki Prefecture (merged with Isahaya City in 2005) took advantage of its location facing the Ariake Sea, and built a wind power generation plant in stages, first by installing a 300kW MHI unit on a trial basis in 1998, followed by two 600kW units from Vestas of Denmark in 2000 and 2002, for a total output of 1500kW. In the beginning, the project was more of a demonstration experiment. Although the initial project was more of a demonstration experiment, the three units were in full operation in 2003, and the revenue from electricity sales reached a record high of more than 20 million yen.

The power generated was used at the Yamachabana Kogen Picnic Park and Herb Garden operated by the town's promotion corporation, and the surplus was sold to Kyushu Electric Power Co. The project is linked to tourism resources and environmental education, and in 2003, more than 250 people from 14 organizations visited the park to observe the project, making it a successful venue for education and exchange.

The Konagai-cho case was noted as a pioneering model of municipal initiative in the early years of the RPS system, and demonstrated the potential of small-scale distributed energy using local resources. This was a symbolic practice of a local government taking the initiative in renewable energy before the introduction of the feed-in tariff system in 2012, and was a precursor to the movement to seek a balance between the environment and the local economy.