"The government said ... it will remove the two remaining wind power turbines it installed off Fukushima Prefecture citing lack of profit in the project, which cost ¥60 billion ($580 million).
The decision came despite Japan’s goal of raising its offshore wind power generation to up to 45 gigawatts in 2040 from a mere 20,000 kilowatts at present as part of efforts to fight climate change.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has pledged to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
... the government had wasted taxpayers’ money and should conduct a thorough study of why the project had failed.
In June, the government removed one of the three turbines installed 20 kilometers off the town of Naraha. It has decided to remove the remaining two in the fiscal year starting April.
... To commercialize wind power generation, the operational rate of a turbine must remain at 30% to 35% or more, according to the ministry.
But the rates of the turbines off
Fukushima had been around 4% to 36%, according to trading house Marubeni
Corp., which participated in the project."