Japan plans world's largest wind farm

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TOKYO, Jan. 16 (UPI) -- Japan is moving away from reliance on nuclear power plants after the Fukushima disaster, and plans to plans to build the world's largest offshore wind farm.

Officials say the proposal calls for construction of 143 wind turbines on platforms 10 miles off the coast of Fukushima, where the Daiichi nuclear power plant was damaged in the March, 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

The wind farm will generate 1 gigawatt of power as part of a national plan to increase renewable energy resources following the post-tsunami shutdown of the Japan's 54 nuclear reactors, NewScientist.com reported Wednesday.

The Fukushima prefecture has said it intends to be completely energy self-sufficient by 2040, using only renewable sources, including the country's biggest solar park, which has also been proposed.

When completed, the Fukushima wind farm will surpass the 504 megawatts generated by the 140 turbines at the Greater Gabbard farm off the coast of Suffolk in Britain, currently the world's largest farm.

"This project is important -- I think it is impossible to use nuclear power in Fukushima again," project manager Takeshi Ishihara of the University of Tokyo said.