COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF OFFSHORE WIND CHARACTERISTICS FOR WIND POWER GENERATION IN NIIGATA AND OTHER REGIONS

Abstract

 Offshore wind power generation is expanding primarily in Europe, and efforts to start offshore wind power projects are also progressing domestically in Japan. Among them, the coastal areas of Murakami City and Tainai City in Niigata Prefecture were designated as the promotion zone in September 2022, and procedures are currently underway to select a project operator. The average annual offshore wind speed within the promotion area in Niigata Prefecture is expected to be stable, however, the offshore winds increase in winter and calm down in summer, furthermore, the southern part of the sea area faces a plain, while the northern part faces a hilly area and may be strongly affected by the topography. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the differences in power generation capacity due to seasonal changes and differences in construction sites. Additionally, Niigata Prefecture has a vast coastal area, requiring an understanding of power generation capacity outside the designated promotion areas. Furthermore, it is considered important to grasp the differences from other promotion areas within Japan. In this study, we first investigated the characteristics of offshore winds in the designated promotion areas based on seasonal and spatial variations. Next, we compared the characteristics with other offshore are-as within Niigata Prefecture and other promotion areas. Offshore wind information was derived from the Japan Meteorological Agency's five-year surface data from numerical weather prediction, converted to a height of 100 meters above ground level at the wind turbine locations.