Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) established a working committee earlier this week to discuss the safety inspections.

The Japan Wind Power Association (JWPA) has drawn up a list of recommended safety guidelines and plans to cooperate with METI on the inspections.

The organisation — which collects data on turbine-related accidents and runs its own safety-monitoring group, established in 2013 — is urging wind-farm operators in western Hokkaido and coastal prefectures such as Akita, Yamagata, Niigata, Toyama and Ishikawa to install lightning-mitigation devices on their turbines.

Japanese