GE Makes A Wind Turbine Especially For Japan Generous solar power feed-in tariffs have driven a boom in installations in the last year or so in Japan but it is the nature of FITs to shrink. And there seems to be a sense that when that happens and solar cools off wind power might find a new opening in the Japanese market.This is the speculation from industry players in a new Japan Times article looking at wind power in Japan. GE sure seems to be positioning itself for opportunities in Japan introducing what it calls the �2.85-103 wind turbine for Japan.� That right Japan gets its own wind turbine.GE says the 2.85-103 comes with enhanced tower engineered for Japanese environmental conditions including seismic and extreme wind events as required by Japanese construction and building codes. (image via GE)What is it about Japan that it requires a specially designed wind turbine? GE explains:GE 2.85-103 wind turbine is specifically engineered for Japanese environmental conditions and is able to withstand higher turbulence areas typhoon class extreme wind speeds and lightning beyond the current IEC standard. The 2.85-103 for Japan includes the Japanese requirements for lightning protection across all Japanese regions and complies with the Japan Electric Utility Law and Japanese construction and building codes.Japan installed wind power capacity inched up steadily during the �00s with 200 to 300 megawatts going in each year. But last year saw just 50 megawatts go in and the country total of 2661 as of the end of 2013 was minuscule compared not just to much bigger and more populous countries like China (91424 MW) and the U.S. (61091 MW) but to the more comparably sized Germany (34250 MW) and Spain (22959 MW).Given its physical nature much of the wind-power attention of late has been on offshore turbines. Because the country � like the U.S. West Coast � is on a continental shelf that drops off quickly in the sea this has required developing new floating turbine technology. Demonstration projects are ongoing.