Key Point of President's Regular Press Conference

Key Point of President's Regular Press Conference

May 2015 Regular Press Conference : President Mizuno's Message

June 02, 2015
Chubu Electric Power Co.,Inc.

  • Today I will be discussing :
    • Starting an Overseas Energy-Saving Support Service
    • Progresses in the key works associated with Hamaoka Nuclear Power Station’s enhanced safety measures
    • Nuclear Power Safety Technology Research Center presentation workshops

Starting an Overseas Energy-Saving Support Service

  • First, I would like to talk about the Starting an Overseas Energy-Saving Support Service.

(Background)

  • Following the commencement of retail power deregulations in 2000, Chubu Electric Power has been proposing further efficient energy use approaches that are consistent with the needs of customers in the deregulated sector.
  • Energy-related demands from our customers span over a wide range from energy-saving or environmental measures to comprehensive energy management that involves the combined use of electricity and gas.
  • In an effort to enable customers to fully enjoy energy-related benefits, Chubu Electric Power has been offering proposals that cater to customer needs and their budgets. This includes suggestions that bring together detailed ideas that are conducive to energy-saving, or by partnering with our affiliated company Cenergy, providing proposals on an energy mix that incorporates onsite power.

(Solutions service based on field survey)

  • The key feature of Chubu Electric Power’s solutions service is that it goes beyond simply proposing renewals to the latest facilities. It gives suggestions about repairs and operation improvements for pre-existing facilities, where detailed field survey- or measurement-based data collection serves a crucial role.
  • Chubu Electric Power employees visit our customers’ production factories and sales outlets during its surveys. Bearing the concept of having customers use energy “when necessary, where necessary, and the amount necessary”, employees collect data and measure the surface temperature of pipes, cold/hot water flow rates, and consumed electric power, and thereby specify “wasted energy” as well as “facility-related areas that are experiencing deficiencies”.
  • Based upon the detailed data collected, we offer energy-saving proposals to derive full energy-saving effects by having our customers repair and improve the operation of pre-existing facilities.

(integrated development solutions)

  • Issues experienced by our customers are diversifying in response to the sophistication of manufacturing. As an endeavor to resolve the issues, Chubu Electric Power is taking a large step into the production processes of customers, and are launching “integrated development solutions” as efforts to scale up productivity and to save energy.
  • In these “integrated development solutions”, Chubu Electric Power will join forces with customers to develop an elaborate production line. We have thus far seen some 40 cases where transportation equipment-related customers accepted our solutions.
  • In one particular case, an automobile parts-producing customer consulted us about ways to maintain the heat of pots designed to transfer melted steel. In response, we developed a heat insulation device that employs arcs and consequently managed to cut down energy use by approximately 75%.
    With this development, we won the Director-General’s Prize, the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy of FY2013’s Grand Prize for Excellence in Energy Efficiency and Conservation.

(Overseas Energy-Saving Support Service)

  • We recently have been receiving requests from customers whom we previously gave solutions service proposals to. Their requests entail energy-saving at overseas production factories and sales outlets.
  • The background of this request is that, notably in developing countries, energy-saving measures have yet to take root to the extent of Japan, and operations are being carried out with a minimum number of local staff. This results in a lack of energy-savings at the production line.
  • By harnessing our energy-saving know-how and human resources fostered thus far within Japan, Chubu Electric Power considered that we can help make our customers’ production factories and sales outlets energy-efficient. Hence, we decided to launch a new energy-saving support service geared towards the overseas offices of customers; a first-ever attempt for an electric utility.
  • As within Japan, Chubu Electric Power employees will visit our customers’ overseas production factories and sales outlets to survey its facilities and operations, and offer proposals for energy-saving based on the detailed data collected.
  • We also believe that presenting the effects of energy-saving by “visualizing” it will enable to help improve the awareness on energy-saving for the local staff at our customers’ overseas offices.

(Summary)

  • Chubu Electric Power developed with the help from many customers in the Chubu region, which is a vibrant manufacturing area.
  • We will carry out overseas energy-saving support services in addition to domestic solutions activities to fully respond to the requests of our globally active customers, and thereby make continued efforts to be a top-choice company for customers.

Progresses in key works

  • Next, I would like to talk about the Progresses in the key works associated with Hamaoka Nuclear Power Station’s enhanced safety measures.
  • Hamaoka Nuclear Power Station’s enhanced safety measures work is smoothly proceeding with Units 4 and 3 set to be completed around September 2016 and September 2017 respectively. Today I would like to briefly describe the progresses made in three key works.

(Tsunami protection wall)

  • I first would like to talk about the tsunami protection wall, which is a measure to prevent tsunami from entering.
  • We commenced our work on the tsunami protection wall in November 2011. Last December, we finished constructing up to 22m above sea level, which is the height we had planned. We are now engaging in works to improve the ground around the wall’s foundation and establishing anti-corrosion concrete panels to cover the wall surface. Work is scheduled to be completed at the end of this fiscal year, including those on the improved embankment that connects from the tsunami protection wall.
  • As we previously informed, on May 26th we won the JSCE Award’s Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Award, hosted by the Japan Society of Civil Engineers with this tsunami protection wall. This is the first time Chubu Electric Power has been awarded with this prize.
  • We are honored to receive this award and appreciate it. The award will serve as an incentive for Chubu Electric Power and external parties that are involved in the work.

(Gas turbine generators)

  • I next would like to talk about the gas turbine generator, which is a measure to “secure cooling functions and prevent severe accidents”.
  • The gas turbine generator is intended to send electricity to a facility that keeps cooling the reactor in the wake of external power shutdowns. We have been engaging in work from June 2012.
  • This April, we completed installing six gas turbine generator bodies to the generator building that is located at an elevated ground 40m from sea level (total power output: 19,200kW). Chubu Electric Power is currently conducting works for fuel-transporting pipes and installing air-conditioning ducts.

(Filter vent)

  • I lastly would like to talk about our work to establish a filter vent. This is a measure to “limit radioactive substance releases”.
  • A filter vent is an equipment intended to reduce radioactive substances by a large margin and to exhaust them. This takes place in response to an unusual pressure rise within the containment vessel, thereby resulting in steps to release gas from the containment vessel to lower the pressure.
  • The work for the Unit 4 filter vent commenced in June 2013. We completed installing the filter vent equipment body this March, and are now installing pipes and pipe supports.
  • Meanwhile, with regard to Unit 3, Chubu Electric Power is currently working to construct a room to house the filter vent equipment body, and is also excavating a pipe tunnel at the reactor building as well as in between the exhaust stack and the filter vent.
  • We are planning to install the filter vent equipment body for Unit 3 around next February.

Nuclear Power Safety Technology Research Center presentation workshops

  • Lastly, we would like to talk about presentation workshops to be held at our Nuclear Power Safety Technology Research Center.
  • Chubu Electric Power established the Nuclear Power Safety Technology Research Center on the power station grounds in July 2012, with the aim of further improving safety of the Hamaoka Nuclear Power Station. There, we carry out our own research as well as research by public call in which we invite applications for ideas from universities and research centers.
  • In the three years from FY2013 to FY2015, Chubu Electric Power selected 34 researches by public call, and they are starting to produce good results in an array of research fields.
  • In succession from last year, on June 13, we will hold a presentation workshop to explain the research results and progress made thus far to local residents.
  • The workshop will include announcements on the following topics:
    Does not applyResults on the 10 research submission programs that started in FY2013 and ended its two-year research term
    Does not applyAn interim report on specific-themed researches by public call that started in FY2014 and is currently underway as a five-year plan
    Does not applyAn outline of the Nuclear Safety Research and Development Center’s survey and research that makes use of wastes from Hamaoka Unit 1
  • Chubu Electric Power will continue to make every effort for nuclear safety-related researches.
  • That concludes my remarks for today.

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