Key Point of President's Regular Press Conference
Key Point of President's Regular Press Conference
February 2025 Regular Press Conference : President Hayashi's Message
February 25, 2025
Chubu Electric Power Co.,Inc.
Today, I would like to talk about the following two efforts to realize "Management Vision 2.0".
- Commencement of Demonstration Operation of Regional Microgrid in Kawaji Area of Iida City
- Efforts toward decarbonization at Chubu Electric Power Miraiz
Commencement of Demonstration Operation of Regional Microgrid in Kawaji Area of Iida City
- First, I would like to talk about the start of the demonstration operation of a regional microgrid in the Kawaji area of Iida City.
- In recent years, there have been concerns about large-scale and prolonged power outages due to increasingly severe natural disasters, and there is a need to strengthen the resilience of communities.
- The Group envisions that Japan will become a "decentralized and recycling-oriented" society as the need for "resilience" increases toward 2050, and has committed itself in its Management Vision 2.0 to contributing to the realization of a "safe, secure, and resilient society that is enjoyable to live in."
- One of these efforts is to expand the deployment of regional microgrids to strengthen local production and consumption of renewable and other energy sources and to increase resiliency.
- Regional microgrid is a system in which, in the event of a prolonged power outage due to an emergency or other disaster, a specific region is separated from Chubu Electric Power Grid's transmission and distribution system to form a small power grid that delivers electricity to customers from power generation facilities in the region.
- Chubu Electric Power and Iida City jointly submitted a proposal of “the urban planning that connects people and communities with a regional microgrid utilizing existing power distribution systems” for the 2nd Decarbonization Leading Area to the Ministry of the Environment, and it was selected in November 2022.
- Based on this joint proposal, our company and Iida City have been working together to build a regional microgrid ("Iida Microgrid") using Mega Solar Iida, a solar power generation facility we operate in the Kawaji area of Iida City, newly installing storage batteries and energy management systems, and the existing power distribution system. The installation of the new facilities has been completed, and the demonstration operation started today.
- We will conduct field tests together with the local community under the simulation of a prolonged power outage due to a disaster, etc., and aim to start actual operation by 2030.
- Through this demonstration, Chubu Electric Power will promote local production for local consumption of energy through optimal operation of power generation facilities and storage batteries, and will contribute to strengthening regional resilience by supplying power to evacuation facilities in the event of an emergency disaster.
Efforts toward decarbonization at Chubu Electric Power Miraiz
- Next, I would like to talk about the efforts toward decarbonization at Chubu Electric Power Miraiz ("Miraiz").
- Based on the Chubu Electric Power Group's Zero Emi Challenge 2050, Miraiz has been promoting decarbonization together with its customers by expanding the introduction and use of renewable energy, saving energy through energy solutions, promoting electrification and fuel conversion to gas.
- In order to further promote its efforts toward decarbonization, Miraiz has decided to offer a new rate menu for both corporate and residential customers.
- Firstly, I would like to talk about corporate customers.
- For corporate customers, in addition to supplying CO2-free electricity derived from renewable energy sources, the company has been offering a service in which customers can use electricity generated by newly installed solar power generation facilities on or off their premises.
- In February 2024, it launched the Decarbonization Project for Everyone to accelerate efforts to develop renewable energy power sources within the Chubu area and to make effective use of electricity derived from renewable energy sources, with the cooperation of its electricity customers.
- Along with these efforts, Miraiz will start selling Chuden Carbon Offset City Gas, a CO2-free city gas compliant with the Act on Promotion of Global Warming Countermeasures ("the Act"), to corporate customers in the city gas supply area in Aichi, Mie, and Gifu prefectures from today.
- Chuden Carbon Offset City Gas is a service that uses J-credits to deliver city gas to customers in a way that offsets the CO2 emissions generated by the combustion of city gas.
- Customers will be able to reduce CO2 emissions from city gas use to zero under the system for calculating, reporting, and publicly announcing greenhouse gas emissions based on the Act.
- Next, I would like to talk about residential customers.
- For residential customers, in addition to providing information on energy conservation through the KatEne web service, Miraiz has offered the KatEne Lease program, which allows customers to install solar power generation equipment and storage batteries at zero initial cost.
- NACHARGE, a demand response service, was also launched in July 2022. It is a service that leads to the introduction and effective use of renewable energy sources by, for example, awarding points to customers who devise ways to use electricity in accordance with the supply and demand situation of electricity and the amount of electricity generated by renewable energy sources.
- In addition to these efforts, starting April 1, Miraiz will begin offering a new rate menu, Daytime Toku Plan, for residential customers with the aim of expanding the effective use and introduction of renewable energy through the creation of daytime electricity demands.
- In the Chubu area, the expansion of solar power generation and other renewable energy sources has led to a situation where the supply of electricity exceeds demand, especially during the daytime in spring and autumn when demand is low.
- Under such circumstances, Chubu Electric Power Grid is increasingly implementing output control of renewable energy in order to maintain a stable supply of electricity, and curbing output control has become an issue.
- In light of this situation, Miraiz has established the Daytime Toku Plan to contribute to the effective use of renewable energy, such as solar power generation, during daytime hours as part of its efforts to effectively utilize renewable energy.
- Customers will be able to use electricity during the daytime at a lower price than at night or in the morning and evening, thereby helping to curb the output control of renewable energy and expand its adoption.
- The Chubu Electric Power Group will continue its efforts to expand the introduction of renewable energy sources by providing attractive services that meet the needs of customers who use a variety of energy sources, and will work together with our customers to realize a decarbonized society.
- We will continue to make concerted efforts to steadily realize Management Vision 2.0, not only through the initiatives introduced today, but also through a variety of other initiatives.
- This ends my presentation.