The first wind farm located offshore in Japan will start producing electricity next year, in January, according to an announcement by the government.

The 2.4 megawatt facility is located off the coast of Choshi, east of Tokyo. It is a joint project by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) and Tokyo Electric Power, the operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

The project is part of Japan’s declared efforts of moving away from atomic power and sustaining the development of clean energy. A new law took effect last week, that requires utilities to buy all renewable energy at a fixed price, in an effort to help clean energy take off in the country.

Japan intends to begin building commercial offshore wind farms in the next few years. The global leader is currently Great Britain, which has taken advantage of its windy coastline.

NEDO eyes another project, together with Electric Power Development Co (J-Power), to build a 2 megawatt offshore wind farm off the coast of Kitakyushu, in southwestern Japan. The new facility could start producing energy as early as May next year.