Sōya Misaki Wind Farm


Sōya Misaki Wind Farm is a wind farm in the Sōya Hills near the eponymous Cape Sōya in Wakkanai, Hokkaidō, Japan. With fifty-seven turbines each with a capacity of one megawatt, when completed in 2005 it became Japan's largest wind farm, capable of powering approximately 41,000 households and with a theoretical annual emissions 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, 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 eagles, Steller's sea eagles, and migrating swans.