Japan Plans $154 Million Offshore Plant to Study Ocean Power, Yomiuri Says

Japan’s government is planning a 13 billion yen ($154 million) power plant to study how to generate electricity from the ocean, the Daily Yomiuri newspaper reported today, citing a government official it didn’t identify.

Construction is expected to be completed by 2012, the newspaper cited the official at Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry as saying.

In addition to using the movement of waves and ocean currents to rotate turbines, the project will harness energy generated through the transfer of heat between surface water and deep water, the report said. Oceanic power research in Japan has been limited to universities and lags behind work done in the U.S. and UK, according to the report.

The ministry estimates that Japan’s coastal areas have an ocean power generation capacity of as much as 50 gigawatts, equivalent to “dozens” of nuclear plants, the report said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Stuart Biggs in Tokyo at sbiggs3@bloomberg.net.

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