In the energy field, the Fuji Electric Group provides energy so-lutions by consolidating technologies for energy conservation, new energy, energy management, electric power system supervisory control, maintenance, etc., which reflect the changing social environ-ment. Helping to reduce energy costs, respond to global environmental problems and ensure energy security, the Fuji Electric Group is work-ing to advance energy solutions that provide customer-oriented and integrated solutions. This paper introduces the Fuji Electric Group"s approach to each of these solution technologies.

Fuji Electric's FWAVE^TM amorphous solar modules are light-weight and flexible, and are well-suited for use on large rooftop areas and facilities designed to be in harmony with their surroundings. Only requiring a small amount of energy to manufacture, these amorphous solar modules are highly effective in achieving a low environmental im-pact over their lifecycle. This paper describes several unique installa-tions of amorphous solar modules in harmony with their environment, and also reports on demonstration experiments for popularizing these amorphous solar modules in various regions.

Fuji Electric has shipped more than 100 units of phosphoric acid fuel cells for field test devices and commercial devices. The operating time of the 100kW phosphoric acid type fuel cell has exceeded 70,000 hours. Future challenges include further popularizing phosphoric acid fuel cells, reduction of device size, utilizing unused energy sources such as biogas and hydrogen byproducts, and developing applications for reducing CO₂.

A demonstration experiment was begun in August 2007 for the wind power generator stabilization system. It is the world first hybrid system that is composed of the rechargeable battery (lead accumulator and Ni-MH battery) and the electric double-layer capacitor. The feature of this system is to be able to stabilize the power fluctuation of wind power generation including both short and long cycles with the mini-mum installed capacity. A high performance control system and a high efficiency converter were developed. As a result, the output fluctuation during 20 minutes could be suppressed within 10% of the wind gen-erator rated output, in the capacity of the stabilization system of about three-quarters of the wind generator rated output. This result satisfied the technical requirement that the affiliated power company specifies.

Fuji Electric proposes that shop-floor production plants strengthen their competitiveness through more sophisticated plant management by constructing a ''next-generation manufacturing platform'' as a mechanism for fully utilizing shop-floor information as a management resource in order to be capable of responding to changing social condi-tions and to support various customer requests. This paper introduces product lifecycle management (PLM) technology that aims to achieve continuous improvements and that combines an integrated energy management system, improved energy savings, an improved plant work environment, and a manufacturing execution system (MES) to satisfy requirements for product quality, cost, safety, and environmen-tal friendliness. An example of an installation of this PLM technology at Fuji Electric's Kumamoto Plant is also presented.

China is continuing to experience remarkable economic growth and the upcoming Beijing Olympics and Shanghai World Expo are ex-pected to stimulate even greater energy consumption for the future. Meanwhile, many efforts, such as to reduce energy consumption, lessen environmental impact, and improve power quality issues are being advanced to address challenges that must be overcome for the stable supply of electric power. In order to provide solutions using Fuji Electric's many years of acquired technical expertise to China's energy market, Fuji Electric has engaged in collaborative research of electric power related technology with Zhejiang University, a leading University in China, and is moving forward with the development of appropriate products. The results of these efforts are described herein.

With changes in the business environment for the electric power industry, dramatic improvements in hardware performance, the pen-etration of IP networks and the like, distribution management systems have been changing year-by-year in response to improved supply reli-ability, and more sophisticated functionality and operation. Under these circumstances, this paper presents an overview of Fuji Electric's latest efforts in promoting distribution management systems, centered on supporting wide-area monitoring and control systems and the recently increasing distributed power supplies that link business offices via a network.

This paper introduces Fuji Electric's standard dam control system, which is suitable for use in control and processing systems for dam control in order to make the operation of outlet facilities in a dam safer and simpler. Additionally, due to the development of IP network tech-nology, base integrated planning has advanced with the aim of making operation and management more efficient. Responding to the trends of enabling the monitoring of multiple dams and the mutual backing up of each base, Fuji Electric's distributed middleware and wide-area distrib-uted technology, which use modular components for remote monitoring and control systems on an IP network, are also introduced herein.

In the energy solutions field, many various forms of electrical power generation and power distribution exist throughout wide-ranging areas. After installation, the equipment is requested to provide long-term stable operation and lower maintenance costs. In response to these requests, Fuji Electric's after-sales service department has promoted the development of preventative maintenance technology centered on degradation diagnosis and remaining life assessment, and on functional improvements in the service infrastructure by focusing on call centers, remote maintenance, and logistics. This paper discusses these recent efforts and the development results.

Products with low-voltage electrical distribution equipment, switching devices, and monitoring control devices are being used as critical protection and switching control devices in control panels and distribution panels, and in addition to being used in our customer's domestic equipment they are also being exported for use in over-seas equipment. Furthermore, based on the trend of increased local purchase by overseas companies, a quick response to requests for globalized product performance and requests from overseas markets is vital. This paper introduces features of Fuji Electric's latest product series developed in response to product market trends, and also describes new efforts to be undertaken by Fuji Electric in the future.

The G-Twin series 125 to 400AF was developed as a true global twin breaker that supports IEC, CCC, UL and new JIS standards, and derivative models and accessories were developed following this con-cept. This paper presents and overview of the G-Twin breaker acces-sories and derivative models. The accessories feature: (1) conformance with international standards, (2) improved safety, and (3) improved ease of use. As derivative models, a protection for neutral line failure in single-phase three-wire system, an electric leakage alarm and a non-auto switch have been developed in consideration of specific domestic applications.

Command switches, which are used chiefly in control panels, have an important role as human-machine interface devices. The AR16 and AF16 series was developed in 2007 in response to control panel requirements for smaller size, thinner size, and diversification, and a technical review of the integrated structure of the contact area was advanced and a shorter panel depth and improved panel surface design were realized in existing products. The technical considerations for this new type of command switch and the measurement technology are described in this paper.

As the latest devices in the ''F-MPC Series'' of multifunctional digital type protective relays featuring advanced combined function-ality of various protective relays and indicating instruments for the maintenance and management of power receiving and power distribu-tion equipment, an interconnection unit optimized for a gas heat pump distributed power source, a high/low voltage transformer panel unit optimized for the protection and monitoring of a high/low voltage trans-former panel, and a transformer unit with an enhanced ratio-differential relay function are introduced. Also introduced is the ''F-MPC Web Unit'' that connects these job-site devices of the F-MPC Series via a closed LAN, and enables the unified control of the status and power usage of the receiving and distribution equipment.

Improved detection functions and improved convenience are new market requirements for household gas alarms. Fuji Electric has de-veloped a voice-alert gas alarm that detects not only gas leaks, but also carbon monoxide (CO) generated during incomplete combustion, and kitchen fires. This alarm is equipped with a button which a user can op-erate to acknowledge the voice-alert alarm, so that the voice-alert can be acknowledged in each household without spraying gas throughout. Moreover, alarm error messages are also generated as voice messages via button operation, and the alarm is equipped with functions more convenient than in a conventional alarm.

Advances in network technology and embedded technology have led to the development of small and inexpensive intelligent devices equipped with high-speed communication functions. Through examples of application to actual systems, this paper describes the effect and characteristics obtained when using intelligent devices and an archi-tecture that has been changed completely from that of a conventional information control system to provide intelligence to the mechanical portion of a system. Additionally, the mechanism and characteristics of the multi-node concurrent high-speed control protocol for the Ethernet base developed to realize this architecture is also described.