EigoPro 準1級読解 — Power from the Wind

A decade ago, wind power was widely dismissed as a well-meaning indulgence: clean, certainly, but too expensive and too erratic to anchor a modern grid. That verdict has aged poorly. The cost of generating a megawatt-hour from an onshore turbine has fallen so steeply that, across much of the world, wind is now the cheapest new source of electricity outright—cheaper than coal, cheaper than gas. What was once a subsidised gesture toward virtue has quietly become a matter of plain economics, and with it the central pillar of nearly every credible plan to decarbonise the power sector. The engineering behind this transformation is less glamorous than the headline figures suggest. Turbines have simply grown enormous: the latest offshore machines sweep an area larger than a football pitch and tap the steadier, stronger winds found far from land. Because the energy a turbine harvests rises with the cube of wind speed, even a modest gain in average wind speed yields a disproportionate gain in output. Scale, in other words, has done what decades of incremental tinkering could not. Yet wind's great liability is precisely its greatest selling point: the wind blows when it pleases, not when demand peaks. A grid leaning heavily on intermittent sources must therefore be rebuilt around flexibility—batteries to bank surplus generation, long-distance transmission lines to move power from where the wind blows to where the lights are on, and markets nimble enough to price electricity by the minute. Critics seize on this intermittency as proof that wind can never be more than a supporting act. They mistake an engineering challenge for an insurmountable law. The obstacles to a wind-rich grid are real, but they are obstacles of integration and infrastructure, not of physics—and such problems, history suggests, tend to yield to sustained investment rather than to defeat it.

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この単元の問題を3問、解説つきで公開しています

準1級 · 読解 · 全5問

問 1

What is the main idea of the passage?

Wind power remains too unreliable and expensive to play more than a minor role in any modern electricity grid.
The growth of offshore turbines is the only reason wind energy has become competitive with fossil fuels.
Decarbonising the power sector is impossible until batteries and transmission lines are fully replaced.
Wind power has shifted from a costly idealistic choice to an economically dominant, central tool for decarbonisation, with its remaining problems being practical rather than fundamental.

Phrase

What was once a subsidised gesture toward virtue has quietly become a matter of plain economics

準1級読解技術ジャーナリズム主旨把握

⚡ひとことで

本文全体は「風力が高価な理想論から、脱炭素の中核となる経済的合理的選択へ転じた」という論旨。

選択肢の解説Choice Analysis

「Wind power has shifted from a costly idealistic choice to an economically dominant, central tool for decarbonisation, with its remaining problems being practical rather than fundamental.」

正解

第1段で「補助金頼みの善意の身振りが、いまや単なる経済の問題になった」「脱炭素計画の中心的柱」と述べ、最終段で残る課題を「物理ではなく統合とインフラの障害」と位置づける。よって「高価な理想論から経済的に支配的な脱炭素の中核へ転じ、残る問題は本質的でなく実務的」という選択肢が主旨。

「Wind power remains far too unreliable and too expensive to play anything more than a very minor role in any modern national electricity grid anywhere in the world.」
= 依然として不安定で高価 ━ 本文は10年前の評価が『老朽化した (aged poorly)』と冒頭で否定しており、現在は最安と明言しているので正反対。
「growth of offshore turbines is the only reason」
= 洋上タービンの拡大だけが理由 ━ 規模拡大は一因だが『唯一の理由』とは言っておらず、コスト低下や経済性を主旨に据える本文を狭めすぎ。
「Decarbonising the power sector is impossible until batteries and transmission lines are fully replaced.」
= 蓄電池等を完全に置き換えるまで不可能 ━ 本文は蓄電池や送電線を解決策として挙げており『置き換える』とは逆。言い過ぎの誤り。

▦Collocation

パターン	意味	例
be dismissed as ~	~として一蹴される	Wind was dismissed as an indulgence.
age poorly	評価が古びる・色あせる	That verdict has aged poorly.
the cheapest source outright	断然最も安い供給源	Wind is the cheapest source outright.
the central pillar of ~	~の中心的支柱	the central pillar of every plan
a matter of plain economics	単なる経済の問題	It became a matter of plain economics.

❝例文

The old verdict on wind power has aged poorly.
風力に対する古い評価は色あせてしまった。
Solar is now the cheapest new source outright.
太陽光はいまや断然最も安い新電源だ。
It has become a matter of plain economics.
それは単なる経済の問題になった。

💡Tip · 覚えるコツ

主旨設問は第1段の対比 (once ... has now become) と最終段の結論を結ぶと速い。本文は『過去の否定的評価→現在の経済的優位→残る課題は実務的』の三段構成。

問 2

According to the passage, why has wind power become so much cheaper than it once was?

Governments have increased the subsidies that make each megawatt-hour of wind power profitable.
Coal and gas prices rose sharply, leaving wind cheaper only by comparison rather than in absolute terms.
Engineers achieved the change mainly through decades of small, incremental refinements to turbine design.
Turbines have grown vastly larger, and because output rises with the cube of wind speed, capturing the stronger winds far from land yields disproportionately more energy.

Phrase

the energy a turbine harvests rises with the cube of wind speed

準1級読解技術ジャーナリズム詳細把握

⚡ひとことで

タービンが巨大化し、風速の3乗で出力が増えるため、強風域を捉えると出力が不釣り合いに増える。

選択肢の解説Choice Analysis

「Turbines have grown vastly larger, and because output rises with the cube of wind speed, capturing the stronger winds far from land yields disproportionately more energy.」

正解

第2段で「タービンが単純に巨大化した」「陸から離れた強く安定した風を捉える」「出力は風速の3乗で増える」「わずかな平均風速の増加が不釣り合いな出力増を生む」と述べる。これを言い換えた選択肢が正解。

「Governments have increased the subsidies」
= 政府が補助金を増やした ━ 本文は補助金頼みを脱したと述べており、安価化の理由を補助金増とはしていない。
「decades of small, incremental refinements」
= 数十年の小さな漸進的改良 ━ 本文は『漸進的いじくり (incremental tinkering) では成し得なかったことを規模が達成した』と明言しており正反対。
「Coal and gas prices rose sharply」
= 石炭・ガス価格が急騰 ━ 本文は風力が石炭・ガスより『絶対的に』安いと述べており、比較上だけではない。

▦Collocation

パターン	意味	例
rise with the cube of ~	~の3乗で増える	Output rises with the cube of wind speed.
a disproportionate gain	不釣り合いに大きな増加	a disproportionate gain in output
tap the steadier winds	より安定した風を捉える	Turbines tap the steadier winds.
incremental tinkering	漸進的ないじくり	decades of incremental tinkering
sweep an area	ある面積を掃く・覆う	Blades sweep a large area.

❝例文

Power output rises with the cube of wind speed.
出力は風速の3乗で増える。
A modest gain yields a disproportionate result.
わずかな増加が不釣り合いな結果を生む。
Scale achieved what tinkering could not.
いじくりでは無理だったことを規模が達成した。

💡Tip · 覚えるコツ

因果の detail 設問は本文の因果接続 (Because ...) を探す。選択肢は cube of wind speed / far from land を温存しつつ言い換えており、本文語を残す肢が正解になりやすい。

問 3

How does the passage say a grid relying heavily on wind must be adapted?

It must restrict electricity use to the precise hours when the wind happens to be blowing.
It must be rebuilt around flexibility, using batteries to store surplus power, long-distance transmission lines, and markets that can price electricity minute by minute.
It must abandon batteries and transmission lines in favour of a single nationwide power source.
It must guarantee that turbines generate a constant, unchanging output regardless of wind conditions.

Phrase

must therefore be rebuilt around flexibility—batteries ... transmission lines ... markets nimble enough to price electricity by the minute

準1級読解技術ジャーナリズム詳細把握

⚡ひとことで

風力中心の電網は柔軟性中心に再構築:余剰を蓄える蓄電池・長距離送電線・分単位で値付けする機敏な市場。

選択肢の解説Choice Analysis

「It must be rebuilt around flexibility, using batteries to store surplus power, long-distance transmission lines, and markets that can price electricity minute by minute.」

正解

第3段で「断続的な電源に大きく依存する電網は柔軟性中心に再構築されねばならない」とし、具体策として『余剰発電を蓄える蓄電池』『風の吹く所から需要地へ電力を運ぶ長距離送電線』『分単位で値付けできる機敏な市場』を列挙する。これを言い換えた選択肢が正解。

「It must guarantee that the turbines generate a constant, entirely unchanging output regardless of the prevailing wind conditions on any given day.」
= 一定不変の出力を保証する ━ 本文は柔軟性で補う仕組みを述べており、出力を一定にせよとは言っていない。風は『気ままに吹く』前提。
「abandon batteries and transmission lines」
= 蓄電池と送電線を捨てる ━ 本文はこれらを解決策として挙げているので正反対。
「It must restrict electricity use to the precise hours when the wind happens to be blowing.」
= 風が吹く時間帯に使用を制限 ━ 本文は送電線と蓄電で需要に合わせると述べており、使用制限の発想とは逆。

▦Collocation

パターン	意味	例
be rebuilt around ~	~を軸に再構築される	The grid is rebuilt around flexibility.
bank surplus generation	余剰発電を蓄える	Batteries bank surplus generation.
lean heavily on ~	~に大きく依存する	A grid leaning heavily on wind
price electricity by the minute	電力を分単位で値付けする	markets that price power by the minute
nimble enough to ~	~できるほど機敏な	markets nimble enough to adjust

❝例文

The grid must be rebuilt around flexibility.
電網は柔軟性を軸に再構築されねばならない。
Batteries bank surplus generation for later.
蓄電池は余剰発電を後で使うため蓄える。
These markets price electricity by the minute.
これらの市場は電力を分単位で値付けする。

💡Tip · 覚えるコツ

対策・手段の detail 設問は列挙 (batteries ... lines ... markets) をそのまま拾う肢が正解。本文の解決策を否定・反転させた肢 (abandon / restrict) は罠。

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EigoPro 準1級 読解 — Power from the Wind

この単元の問題を3問、解説つきで公開しています

What was once a subsidised gesture toward virtue has quietly become a matter of plain economics

the energy a turbine harvests rises with the cube of wind speed

must therefore be rebuilt around flexibility—batteries ... transmission lines ... markets nimble enough to price electricity by the minute

EigoPro 準1級読解 — Power from the Wind