JSCA co-hosted the Smart Community Summit 2017 with NEDO

The theme of Smart Community Summit 2017 was ” New business created from energy systems” .

On June 8 and 9, Japan Smart Community Alliance (JSCA) held the “Smart Community Summit 2017” in Tokyo, with New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).  From GSGF, Mr. Oscar Miranda gave a special lecture on smart grids in Latin America. In addition, many leading experts from the US, Europe and Japan gathered to provide information and exchange opinions from a wide range of perspectives on the energy system that is dramatically transforming on a global scale, and new businesses to address the change.

• Smart Community Summit 2017

• Smart Community Summit 2017 Report (all materials can be found through this link)

The latest trends in transforming energy systems and managing the rapid growth of PV

In the keynote address on the 1^st day, speakers from Europe and the US delivered presentations on the most recent topics and future prospects of energy systems to be reformed in responding to the expansion of renewable energy, such as VPP that efficiently control energy resources on the demand side and the installation of distribution system operators (DSO).

In addition, JSCA’s activities and directions for international standardization of the Japanese smart grid were reported.

The theme of the 1^st session was “Addressing the rapid growth of PV – Features of Japan’s direction for renewable energy”. In this session, the current overview of PV penetration and an increasing influence on electric systems caused by the intensive introduction of PV was presented together with the countermeasures implemented by Kyushu Electric Power Co., and projects carried out by NEDO such as EV demonstration in Hawaii and large-scale storage battery development.

New business and entry into emerging markets of the energy industry

 The theme of the 2^nd session was “new opportunities in energy ～  the ways of start-up business represented by DER aggregation”. The latest situations and future possibilities of business models recently developed by emerging players, in tandem with the liberalization of electricity markets and the expansion of renewable energy were presented. A framework of aggregation business was introduced by JSCA, and the transactive energy and community microgrids utilizing blockchain technology was introduced by the LO 3 Energy Company.

In the special lecture, Mr. Oscar Miranda of GSGF (Chairman of Smart Grid Mexico (SGM) and LATAM Smart Community Alliance) gave a presentation on the opportunities and challenges for smart grids in Latin America.

The theme of the final session was “Energy demand in emerging markets and smart community demonstration – challenges and approaches for Asian market entry”.  NEDO’s projects in the areas including EV bus demonstration in the Malaysian city of Putrajaya and a smart community demonstration in the Indonesian industrial park were reported, in addition to indicating problems in the transmission and distribution system of Indian market and others. In the following panel discussion, 4 panelists discussed the ways of infrastructure business entry into the Southeastern Asian countries and India, whose energy markets are growing rapidly.

Lastly, Mr. Watanabe, Vice Chair of GSGF and Secretary General of JSCA, gave closing remarks. The summit was attended by many participants asking questions actively and ended successfully.