is a
wind farm
A wind farm or wind park, also called a wind power station or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used Wind power, to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundre ...
in the
Sōya Hills
Soya may refer to:
Food
* Soya bean, or soybean, a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean
* Soya sauce, see soy sauce, a fermented sauce made from soybeans, roasted grain, water and salt
Places
* Sōya District, ...
near the eponymous
Cape Sōya
is the northernmost point of the island of Hokkaidō, Japan. It is situated in Wakkanai, Sōya Subprefecture. The is at the cape, although the true northernmost point under Japanese control is a small deserted island called Bentenjima, northw ...
in
Wakkanai,
Hokkaidō
is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel.
The la ...
, Japan. With fifty-seven
turbines each with a capacity of one
megawatt
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units, International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), ...
, when completed in 2005 it became Japan's largest wind farm, capable of powering approximately 41,000 households and with a theoretical annual
emissions
Emission may refer to:
Chemical products
* Emission of air pollutants, notably:
**Flue gas, gas exiting to the atmosphere via a flue
** Exhaust gas, flue gas generated by fuel combustion
** Emission of greenhouse gases, which absorb and emit rad ...
reduction of 120,000 tons of
CO2 relative to an
oil-fired power station of equal capacity.
It is one of a complementary network of wind power generation facilities in Wakkanai which together, eight-four turbines in all with a combined total capacity of 106,355
kilowatts
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...
, generate approximately 120% of the city's electricity demands.
In 2019, with the operator planning to replace the fifty-seven one megawatt turbines with fifteen four megawatt turbines, the
Ministry of the Environment raised concerns about the number of
bird strikes, in particular those involving
white-tailed eagle
The white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla'') is a very large species of sea eagle widely distributed across temperate Palearctic, Eurasia. Like all eagles, it is a member of the family Accipitridae (or accipitrids) which includes other diur ...
s,
Steller's sea eagles, and migrating swans.
See also
*
Environmental impact of wind power
The environmental impact of electricity generation from wind power is minor when compared to that of fossil fuel power. Wind turbines have some of the lowest global warming potential per unit of electricity generated: far less greenhouse gas ...
*
Lake Ōnuma
References
{{reflist
Wakkanai
Buildings and structures in Hokkaido
Wind farms in Japan
2005 establishments in Japan
Energy infrastructure completed in 2005