Nuke site becomes wind-power wonderland

Fukushima – ground zero of Japan’s 2011 nuclear disaster that followed a devastating earthquake and tsunami – could become a wind-harnessing hydrogen production centre.

Japan’s prime minister Shinzo Abe hopes the area can produce massive amounts of hydrogen for use in Tokyo during the Olympics in four years’ time.

Abe has been aggressively promoting hydrogen as a core power source and hydrogen fuel cells as key to the country’s automotive future. Fukushima will also be used to develop more potential power-generating ides using wind.

After the Fukushima power plant disaster, Japan has focused on reducing its reliance on nuclear power. A long-held energy aim is to abstain from using fossil fuels altogether, as it has to import the vast majority of its coal and oil.

Hydrogen production on a large scale will rely heavily on deals with privately-owned entities as the country will need massive investment in energy infrastructure to make use of the power source .

Hydrogen vehicles are a core focus of many companies’ R&D departments, and fuel cells are seen as the logical next step from EVs in low emission motoring.