President Message
Hoping to create whirlpool INNOVATION in the lives of ordinary people
Energy-related issues are changing in our society.
Non-fossil-based electricity and renewables have now emerged as mainstream in the world energy market. Frequent natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, and flooding have brought devastating damage, particularly in coastal areas where many centralized power plants are located. This has raised the alarm about the risk of centralized power systems, from which Japan suffers.
One-way transmission and distribution electricity system is coming to an end. Regional energy created by decentralized systems, especially solar power systems will bring us a new era when electricity can be interchanged in low price between local people and facilities.
35 years ago, in 1983, I (Hirofumi Tezuka: CEO, Smart Solar Corp.) flew to Pakistan’s northern territory to work in Kankoi village on a rural electrification project for 120 cottages. The light from solar power and storage batteries was very much appreciated by the villagers, as the village was not electrified in those days. Regional electric utility was and is an ideal solution imparting dreams and hope to the villagers.
Japan is facing two problems: the first is its aging population and the second is depopulation of rural areas. A smart city decentralized power scheme is believed to be a viable solution for such problems, since it takes a regional electric utility approach to energy using photovoltaic power generation. Several individual small power plants interconnect with each other as an aggregate unit, functioning exactly like a virtual power plant (VPP) in the area. Shortages of power from one aggregate unit can be covered by other aggregates having surplus power, which secures an overall performance increase in the area compared with old or existing utility systems.
As a result of this electricity trading among several parties, jobs are created and money circulates locally, leading to greater economic prosperity in the area.
Such power networks are information networks, comprised of various electric and electronic appliances. Data is analyzed by IoT and connected to block-chain technology to realize various kinds of content and services through harmonization with IT technology.
Young people will gather in areas such as those outlined above, formulating an active local economic community.
We would like to see smart cities and/or smart communities extending throughout Japan, energizing and revitalizing Japan as a whole.
We are therefore determined to create this, following our Mission Statement of Living in harmony with the Earth and creating a new society.
Hirofumi Tezuka,
President & Chief Executive Officer
Smart Solar Corporation
