This new wind turbine wall from Japan may transform energy production. The renewable energy industry continues to advance, with new technologies and innovative ideas consistently being released globally. While solar power remains the most popular renewable source for private residences and has seen much success, the bigger challenge lies in powering commercial and industrial operations, where energy demands are higher, and infrastructure development is much more complex.

Renewable energy continues to rise in demand

With the world currently experiencing a climate crisis, individuals, organizations, and governments continue to demand that the energy sector be transformed by including and advancing renewable energy alternatives to traditional fossil fuels. Globally, since 2000, renewable energy sources have grown from accounting for 19% of electricity to 30% by 2023, with solar power in particular being a driving force behind renewable energy growth:

“The renewables future has arrived,” said Dave Jones, Ember’s director of global insights. “Solar in particular is accelerating faster than anyone thought possible.”

In 2023, solar power was named for the ninth consecutive year as the fastest-growing electricity source, surpassing wind energy for the second year. However, to meet our energy needs with renewables, the world must rely on other sources of renewable energy, with wind and hydropower offering some of the most promising solutions.

New wind turbines from Japan to transform the energy sector

Wind energy is fast becoming one of the most promising sources of electricity in order to meet the needs of our energy-intensive world. Wind energy reportedly has a growth rate of 11%, with the industry hitting a total energy capacity of 1.2 Terawatts as of late 2024. Offshore wind energy development is increasingly growing in popularity in order to harness the potential of strong winds over open ocean areas where wind speeds are generally higher, in order to increase the extent of total wind energy generation capacity. At the forefront of developing these technologies is Kyushu University in Japan:

“Kyushu University is the only university in Japan capable of developing wind turbines, combining its unique wind turbine & floating structure technology (hardware) and wind analysis & fluid structure analysis technology (software),” said Ju Tanimoto, Executive Vice President and Senior Vice President of Kyushu University, in a October 2024 statement. “In addition, under the Designated National University Corporation Concept, Kyushu University aims to become Japan’s Green Innovation Hub, contributing to creating innovative technologies, making policy recommendations and developing human resources, and presenting innovations in wind energy technologies, including offshore wind power generation.”

As part of the University’s mission to advance offshore wind energy, they opened an offshore wind-related research and education center in April 2022, dubbed the Research and Education Center for Offshore Wind (RECOW). Since then, the University has researched and designed multiple innovative offshore wind turbine designs, including a ‘wind turbine wall’ which has the potential to triple power output compared to current offshore wind turbines.

New innovations across the world for renewable energy

While the world still remains largely reliant on fossil fuels to meet our energy needs, globally, researchers, scientists, and innovators alike are dedicated to advancing renewable solutions in order to rapidly reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. The past two decades alone have seen monumental shifts in renewable energy production, including an 80% reduction in costs to produce renewable technologies between 2010 and 2022.

Other developments include updating existing technology to be more efficient, achieving a global 30% renewable energy generation capacity, and individual countries such as Denmark and Greece meeting the majority of their countries’ electricity needs with renewable sources. Other advances include the rise in popularity of electric vehicles, as well as legislative commitments from governments worldwide to meet climate objectives within the next two decades.

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