Green Energy Smart-Grid Project Starts in Coastal Town

Four Japanese companies -- Japan Wind Development Co. (JWD), Toyota Motor Corp., Panasonic Electric Works Co., and Hitachi, Ltd. -- announced on September 15, 2010, that they would conduct a smart grid pilot project for residential use from September 16, 2010 through July 2012 in Rokkasho Village, Aomori Prefecture, using electricity from the Futamata Wind Farm, the world's first large-scale wind farm equipped with high-capacity storage batteries. The project's aim is to demonstrate an efficient way to use energy for realizing a low-carbon society.

In the project, the companies will build a closed grid supplied by natural energy and coordinate power supply and demand to demonstrate an optimization of energy efficiency. On the supply side: 51-megawatt wind power generators equipped with 34-megawatt storage batteries and 100-kilowatt solar panels equipped with 100-kilowatt storage batteries. On the demand side: six smart houses with amenities for daily living, eight plug-in hybrid cars, and a battery charging station.

The tests aims to: (1) evaluate the effectiveness of methods for coordinating power supply and demand as well as the functionality of energy management systems under circumstances that make it possible to simulate the various power conditions of certain nations and communities; (2) establish power supply system technologies that can meet the various needs of different communities; and (3) establish advanced control technologies to store and discharge power while being responsive to the generating conditions of natural energy.

Japanese Firm Offers U.S. Company Wind-to-Battery Storage Know-How (Related JFS article)
http://www.japanfs.org/en/pages/029161.html

Posted: 2011/01/05 06:00:15 AM