Smart Grid Electricity Supply In Japan
Smart Grid is a concept that has gained some popularity, as many people are concerned about their electricity supply. Rather than just relying on a huge utility so provide your home or office with power, you could actually be a part of the supply system, if you have solar panels on your roof, for example.
Not so easy in Japan. There has been such a monopoly on electricity supply, that almost no discussion on Smart Grid has taken place, until of course now, when TEPCO is in dire straits and can no longer rely on nuclear power reactors to keep Tokyo's bright lights shining, and cannot even assure the public that their plan will work to cool down the destroyed Fukushima #1 reactors.
Smart Grid for Japan? Well, some people have tried to envision such a system, for example in Yokohama, a rather progressive city. Yet, it seems to be moving very slowly, with only 900 units of photovoltic systems installed by 2009, although they plan to install some 2000 ten years later, according to Nikkan.
Yokohama Smart City Project is trying to build a low-carbon society in a big city. Last October, AP/SF Gate noted:
The city of Yokohama, just southwest of Tokyo, is the site of a social and infrastructure experiment to create a smart city for the rest of the world to emulate. Begun this year, the Yokohama Smart City Project is a five-year pilot program with a consortium of seven Japanese companies - Nissan Motor Co., Panasonic Corp., Toshiba Corp., Tokyo Electric Power Co., Tokyo Gas Co., Accenture's Japan unit and Meidensha Corp.AP/SFGate: Japan creating 'smart city' of the future
"We want to build a social model to take overseas," said Masato Nobutoki, the executive director of Yokohama's Climate Change Policy Headquarters, during a keynote event at CEATAC. "Yokohama is a place where foreign cultures entered Japan 150 years ago and then spread to the rest of the country."
Now, he said, it's where the best of Japan is converging, preparing for expansion to the wider world.
(Note that TEPCO was just included as an "observer" in the Yokohama project, clearly not something the nuclear power promoters were very enthusiastic about a year ago.)
At the Eco Products Trade Fair at Tokyo Big Site in 2010, Panasonic introduced one product that may be useful if you want to store your own electricity, and go off-grid completely. Their small sized 5 KWh lithium battery is to be placed outside of your home, and may run home appliances for about half a day. But how clever is this device really? It just consists of 140 usual small batteries, put together as one unit. Panasonic is also trying to promote a “Smart Energy Gateway” (SEG) for their Home Energy Management System (HEMS). Excuse me if I'm sceptical. We all need one of these, so why haven't they been developed already...? And it does seem awfully complicated (Note to whoever is in charge, the videos on the Panasonic website don't work).
(Photo: IT Media)
One of the companies involved in the Yokohama project is Solar Frontier, and I was impressed by their efforts to help the Tohoku region. They have supplied solar panels to the Futsukaichi Community Center in Rikuzentakata, Iwate prefecture. The community center is currently sheltering 20 local residents. OK, a small contribution, but that is how we will have to think from now on: Small Efforts Can Make A Huge Difference For Tohoku.
Comments
I link to your blog's energy articles in my latest blog post about renewable energy blogs in Japan. Thanks for posting this information, the smart grid system is really interesting, hope to see more about this in Japan being developed.
Batteries can be useful beyond the single home where they can cover rolling blackouts or store solar energy for night time use - A smart grid with electricity supplied by wind and solar can use them to even out the uneven supply coming from the sun and the winds, reducing the need for fossil fuels or nukes to provide stable energy to the grid.
Time to re-design Japan's system and really open it up to renewables my mandating the monopolists to buy it all, and at a fair price.
It is a great bargain for people who have solar PVs on their roofs and it makes paying off a system much faster than other countries and than 5 years ago. When we bought our 3kwh system 3 years ago, it was 2 million yen and the rate we got for excess solar was the same as what we bought it for.
As of last year that rate has changed to twice what is paid for electricity: 42yen per kilowhat and we are getting back twice as much as we pay each month. Solar PV systems have also decreased to near half of what we paid 3 years ago!
Before solar we paid 40,000 yen on average month for gas and electricity, when we first started solar our bills were about even for what we paid and got back. But now with the higher FIT (feed in tariff) from the electrical companies, we pay the electric company 5,000 yen or less each month and get back 10,000 yen or more each month (even in rainy months).
So, I think the rate of electricity is likely to increase, but the FIT is still quite generous and even if your bills are even - what you pay and get back- you are still much better off financially than you are without solar panels.
After 7-8 years, when your panels are paid for- it is pure profit (and panels have a life upwards of 40 years) Don't really see a down-side of investing in solar in Japan.
You are more optimistic than I about the future. :)
Perhaps it is my age (60) and employment status (retired), but I don't make long term commitments for things that only pay a few percent per year. (No 10 year US Treasury bonds for me.)
Everyone's circumstances are different, of course, so I'm not telling anyone not to have a grid tied system.
We've got our usage down to the point where our monthly bill is around 5,000 yen total. In June we've averaged 7.7 kWh per day. I'd rather continue to work on getting it even lower, then use a smaller (and portable) system off grid. If TEPCO can't provide power at some point (likely) or if I have to move for any reason (a certain trouble nuke plant 150 km to my north comes to mind), I'll be covered. Yes, it will cost me more per kW to build, but I feel it is worth the flexibility and security it will give me.
Cheers.
I still think it is worth thinking about, but regardless, Best of luck with your project!