No. 61: Wind generator grows more powerful (July 19, 2012)

Technology:

The Japan Steel Works will develop a large-scale wind generator that is 30% more powerful than the existing wind generator. Although the act to purchase renewable energy started in July, Japan does not have so many areas suitable for wind generation. Accordingly, demand for large-scale powerful wind generators is expected to grow, the company predicted. The new mode named J100 will have an output of 2,700 kW and begin operations in 2013.

The conventional wind generator turns a turbine at high speed by increasing the revolution of blades using an overdrive, but gears and bearings of an overdrive are liable to let it break down. The company plans to adopt a structure that does not need an overdrive for the new model to make it free from breakdown. The company recorded sales of nearly 2 billion yen from wind generators in fiscal ended May 2012 and wishes to increase them to 19 billion yen in fiscal ending March 2015.  

 Wind generators by the Japan Steel Works 

No. 60: Photovoltaic panels on the rooftop of a platform building of a railway station (July 15, 2012)

Business trend:

Tokyo Metro’s subway network has a total of 179 stations, some of which are aboveground stations. One of these stations has been running a photovoltaic generation system as the photo below shows. The system has a total of 108 photovoltaic panels, covering an area of about 127 square meters.

In a sunny day, it can generate 20 kW that is enough to run an escalator and illuminate the lights inside the station. In addition, it can reduce 10 tons of carbon dioxide annually. Tokyo Metro is actively installing photovoltaic panels in its stations to mitigate the image that a railway consumes lots of electricity and contribute to the nationwide efforts to save energy. 

 

Photovoltaic panels on a plantform building of a railway station in Tokyo

No. 59: A British wind generator maker is coming to Japan (June 20, 2012)

Business trend

Evans Wind Turbines, a British small-sized wind generator maker, will develop the market in Japan in alliance with Zephyr. The company has 30% share in the small-sized wind generator market in Great Britain. Zephyr will collaborate with Evans and build Evans’ R9000 that has an output of 5 kW as Evans’ original equipment manufacturer.

The price is not decided yet, but will supposedly be around several million yen. The R9000 can be featured by few troubles because of the simple structure to spin windmills. Zephyr will sell Evans’ product not only in Japan but also in the Asian region. It plans to sell 200-300 R9000s in the next three years.

Wind generation has several advantages over photovoltaic generation despite the higher initial investment: 1,500,000 yen vs. 520,000 yen. The former can generate as long as wind exists, whereas the latter can generate only during daytime hours. The former has annual generation per kW of 1,460 kW/h, whereas the latter has annual generation per kW of 1,000 kW/h. What is more, the purchase price of wind generation is 57.75 yen per kW, whereas that of photovoltaic generation is 42 yen per kW.

In Japan, the small-size wind generator is defined as a generator with an output of less than 20 kW. At present, 75% of small-sized wind generators installed in Japan have an output of less than 1 kW because nearly all installed small-sized generators are for generation only for internal use. As of the end of 2010, 9,500 small-sized wind generators were at work, only 2.5% of which were connected to the power network of an electric power company. 

R9000 wind generator from Evans Wind Turbines of Great Britain 

No. 58: Japanese photovoltaic generation technology goes to Canada (June 16, 2012)

Business trend

Three Japanese companies, Osaka Gas, Mitsubishi Corp., and Sharp, will build a total of nine mega solar power plants in the eastern part of Ontario of Canada with an investment of 35 billion yen, and jointly operate them to accumulate know-how on the operation and management of a mega solar power plant. The nine plants will have a total generation capacity of 100,000 kW. The three companies will jointly establish an independent power producer in Canada with a capital of about 10 billion yen, of which Osaka Gas and Mitsubishi Corp. pay 45% each and Sharp pays the remaining 10%, shortly in Canada. They are scheduled to build three plants in 2012, and the remaining six plants by the end of 2013.

They have already concluded a contract with Ontario Power Authority to sell generated electricity for 0.44 Canadian dollars (about 35 yen) for 20 years. At the strong request of the Ontario authorities, the project will employ Canadian solar panels. The annual output is scheduled to be more than 100 million kW that is enough for the annual power consumption of more than 10,000 households. The purchase price of 35 yen is rather high, and it is currently second highest following the price of 42 yen set by the Japanese government. Osaka Gas is actively investing in the renewable energy business to make it as a new mainstay. The wind power generation plant it built in Australia in alliance with Marubeni has been operating since June 2011. 

 The mega solar business developed by Sharp in Italy

No. 57: NTT participates in the photovoltaic generation business (June 13, 2012)

Business trend

NTT will participate in the photovoltaic generation business through one of its subsidiaries, NTT Facilities, utilizing its idled land. It plans to build about 20 mega solar power plants by the end of 2014. The total generation capacity will be 60,000 kW, making NTT the company with the biggest generation capacity in Japan. Total investment will be about 15 billion yen. The 60,000 generation capacity can supply electricity to about 20,000 households.

The law to purchase electricity generated by renewable energy will be put into effect coming July. The Japanese government proposed a plan to buy electricity of photovoltaic generation for 42 yen per kW for 20 years. Because NTT can expect profits from electric power selling to be 2 billion yen annually, it can recoup its investment in 6-7 years. Starting this summer, NTT will operate 6 mega solar power plants in succession until the end of next January with a total generation capacity of 11,000 kW.  

One of Japan's largest distribution and complex facilities designed and developed by NTT Facilities in Kanagawa Prefecture 

No. 56: Building a bridgehead in Australia (May 14, 2012)

Business trend

Japan’s largest wind generation company built a bridgehead in Australia to enter the Australian wind generation market. Eurus Energy agreed with AGL, Australia’s leading integrated renewable energy company, that it would acquire the wind generation plant AGL constructed in the southern part of Australia for about 15 billion yen. The plant that was completed in March this year has 25 wind generators with a total output of 52,500 kW. The generated power will be sold to AGL’s subsidiary for 24 years to supply electricity to 27,000 households. Eurus Energy was founded jointly by Tokyo Electric Power Company and Toyota Tsusho.

Eurus Energy is doing generation business in 7 countries with a total output of 2,100,000 kW, of which 820,000 kW is in Europe, 630,000 kW is in the U.S., and 530,000 kW is in Japan. The company is actively trying to increase business responding to the special measures that ask electric power companies to purchase renewable energy scheduled for enactment coming July. It has been exploring the possibility to expand business in the markets other than those in the northern hemisphere to diversify the risk of concentrating on specific regions. 

Generating windmills operated by Eurus Energy in Japan

No. 55: Taking the advantage of the growing popularity of geothermal generation (May 13, 2012)

Business trend

Geothermal generation is growing popular in the U.S. and countries blessed with sunlight alike. Fuji Electric, world’s leader of the geothermal generation equipment market with 4% share, will participate in a geothermal generation project in the U.S. Energy Source of the U.S. will construct the Hudson Ranch Geothermal Power Plant in California for 30 billion yen, and Fuji Electric will take a stake in this company for 800 million yen. The power plant has an output of 49,000 kW to supply power to 50,000 households in Arizona. The construction will start in 2013 and the operation will start in 2015. Fuji Electric plans to get an order for the steam turbines and generators of this power plant.

In the U.S., the total output from geothermal generation inside the U.S. is expected to increase 70% over the level in 2010 to 5.4 million kW in 2015. The development of geothermal generation has also been growing active in Indonesia and Philippines. Fuji Electric wishes to increase its share in the world market to 50% by accumulating development results worldwide. 

 Hudson Ranch Geothermal Power Plant