To solve the shortage of electricity problems, many companies took "Rolling Blackouts" for energy conservation. Some big companies like Toshiba, Toyota, and Nissan etc would take two days off during the work week and some of them would extend its summer vacation. However, the improved supply-demand balance requires ongoing energy conservation by industries and households especially during summer when power demand increases for air conditioning. All of us should help them save energies as well. :)
Next, according to the speech that Japan Prime Minister Naoto Kan made, Japan aims to install solar panels on the roofs of 10 million houses (It is traditional solid solar panels). To support this plan, he also mentioned: “We must nurture the two new pillars of renewable energy and energy-efficiency, in addition to the existing pillars of nuclear power and fossil fuels”. As to renewable energy, he committed to “engage in drastic technological innovation in order to increase the share of renewable energy to more than 20 percent by the 2020s”. To achieve this, as a first step, “we aim to lower the cost of solar power generation to one third of its current level by 2020 and to one sixth by 2030”.
As a result, in order to install solar powering house in the future, lower the cost of manufacturing would be a must. That's exactly the OPV's potentials in existing industry for sure. For the damaged areas like Iwate and Fukushima island, Japanese local governments are also looking at photovoltaics seriously to implement its recovery plan. This clean energy source is included in recovery plans by the three prefectures in northeast Japan that were impacted by the earthquake and tsunami most severely.
- Iwate prefecture announced its long-term recovery plan this month that calls for faster adoption of renewable energies such as solar and wind power.
- Miyagi prefecture also announced its recovery plan that includes the “Eco Town” project where all houses equipped with solar panels and batteries are connected by the smart grid.
- Fukushima prefecture also plans to facilitate adoption of renewable energies dramatically.
It is obvious that Japan government has broached to develop its renewable energy industry especial in solar power. As a matter of fact, another big plan is to use its 20% of 540,000 hectares in unused farmland nationwide to build mega solar facilities to generate 50 million KW electricity supply that is almost equivalent to Tokyo Electric Power Company’s capacity in the summer. In essence, this plan would be initiated by Sharp Corp.
Speaking of the efficiency issue, I calculated the percentage of the panels conversion rate based on its assumption. As below: 540,000 (hec) x 20% x 10,000= 108 x 10^7(meter square). So, 5 x 10^7 KW / 108 x 10^7 = 4.6%(KW/meter square). It's a bit lower than I expected in solid panels. But on the other side, for a mass production of solar panels on the needs, bringing OPVs into the market is coming soon in the near future. :)
Next time I would like to talk about a new idea about "ECO TOWN" and "SMART-GRID" design for renewable energy. Thank you for your review and see you next time.
Xavier (Chi-Tsung Lin)
News Resources: http://www.pvgroup.org/node/1496
pretty good article
ReplyDeleteIt would be interesting if you can compare algae-based biofuel, corn-based ethanol and solar power. :) They all claim themselves as green energy.
ReplyDeletethanks for the article. it's interesting and informative. thanks for sharing :)
ReplyDeleteInteresting insights here. I'm glad that Japan is taking the opportunity to further integrate alternative energy sources into its power generation mix. We'll see if they can actually implement this with the technology and funding hurdles many others have faced.
ReplyDeletevery impressive and informative, good article.
ReplyDeleteWow.Really good article.This is to be expected from the Japan,this will surely be helpful project,solar power for homesa new breakthrough again by science.
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