Publish Date : 19-Dec-2013
Hitachi, Ltd. today announced that it has begun operations on the demonstration site for the Japan-U.S. Island Grid Project on the Maui Island, Hawaii, in collaboration with the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization ("NEDO"), Mizuho Bank, Ltd. ("Mizuho Bank") and Cyber Defense Institute, Inc. ("Cyber Defense Institute")
The goal of this project, which is based on an agreement between the American and Japanese governments, will be to demonstrate smart grid technologies that will enable the efficient use of renewable energy and will contribute to the implementation of a low-carbon social infrastructure system in island regions. The demonstration site has been designed to respond to the rapidly changing demands in the renewable energy market, which will be made possible through the use of electric vehicles (EV) and other innovative technologies.
The demonstration site is scheduled to be in operation from December 17, 2013, through the end of March 2015. Based on the results of analysis and evaluations, the goal of this site is to build a business model for future "Island Smart Grids" that will be built in other sub-tropical regions with environmental conditions similar to Maui.
According to Maui Electric Company, in 2012, renewable energy accounted for 21% of the total energy supply on the Hawaiian island of Maui, and current plans call for at least 40% of increased demand for electrical power throughout the entire state of Hawaii to be met with the use of renewable energy by 2030. In the backdrop of the growing adoption of renewable energy, in 2011, NEDO initiated the "Japan-U.S. Island Grid Project" (commonly referred to as the "JUMPSmartMaui" Project) to resolve the issues related to the use of these new energy sources. As the company with primary responsibility for this Project, Hitachi oversees all aspects of Project activities, and has been working on the construction of the demonstration site in collaboration with the Mizuho Bank and the Cyber Defense Institute, along with the state of Hawaii, the County of Maui, Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc., the University of Hawaii, and the American national research laboratories.
In order to create a smart grid for island regions using EV, Hitachi has established an EV Energy Control Center (EVECC), and has already put in place a Distribution Management System (DMS) to control power distribution systems in the Kihei district on the south side of Maui, and the Energy Management System-Plus (EMS-Plus). The goal is to control the balance of supply and demand in electric power systems and support the efficient operations of renewable energy.
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