Fuji Electric Review
Vol.66-No.3,2020
Fuji Electric’s Power Generation Business to Realize a Low-Carbon Society
Fuji Electric’s Power Generation Business to Realize a Low-Carbon Society
Since the enactment of the Paris Agreement, an international framework for mitigating climate change, countries around the world have been taking measures to accelerate decarbonization. As a result, the market for renewable energy sources, which do not emit greenhouse gases, has been expanding globally. In Japan, in addition to efforts to achieve the energy mix outlined in the Strategic Energy Plan, the government established the Act of Establishing Energy Supply Resilience in June 2020 as an initiative to strengthen and improve the sustainability of electricity supply systems.
This special issue highlights Fuji Electric’s work toward establishing resilient and sustainable electricity supply systems and realizing a low-carbon society by introducing the latest topics and technologies in the field of power generation.
KAIEDA, Hideshi
HORIE, Tadao; UENO, Yasuo; KITANISHI, Hirokazu
Worldwide electricity demand is expected to continue to grow at an annual rate of approximately 1% until around 2040, and initiatives to combat global warming have been propelling the development of renewable energy sources, such as solar power and wind power. Meanwhile, new policies and measures are being adopted by various countries under the common goal of the Paris Agreement (i.e., temperature rise of 2ºC or less) in order to reach a “sustainable development scenario. Fuji Electric’s Corporate Philosophy is to “contribute to prosperity,” “encourage creativity,” and “seek harmony with the environment,” and the Company bases its Management Policies on contributing to the creation of a sustainable society through its energy and environment businesses. In our power generation business, Fuji Electric has been committed to help achieve Japan’s energy mix and make energy infrastructure more resilient to contribute to the realization of a decarbonized society. This special issue will describe the current status and future outlook of Fuji Electric’s efforts mainly in the energy field to achieve a low-carbon society and introduce some our major examples.
HATTORI, Yasuyuki
Fuji Electric has a market share of approximately 50% in geothermal power plants in Indonesia, being highly regarded and trusted by the country’s electricity industry. On December 2019, the Muara Laboh geothermal power plant (power generation capacity: 85.26 MW) in Sumatra, Indonesia started operation, for which a consortium of Sumitomo Corporation and PT. Rekayasa Industri, a local engineering company, had completed a turnkey contract with PT. Supreme Energy Muara Laboh. As a subcontractor to Sumitomo Corporation, we were responsible for the engineering of the entire plant as the technical leader and delivered equipment, such as a steam turbine, generator, motors and turbine governor regulation system.
SHIIBASHI, Tetsuya; NAZUKA, Takehiro; SATO, Tomoki
The Suzuran Kushiro-cho Solar Power Plant was completed and came online in February 2020. Fuji Electric undertook an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the power plant with GPD Suzuran Solar K.K., which was jointly established by Tokyu Land Corporation, Mitsubishi UFJ Lease & Finance Company Limited, and the Green Power Development Corporation of Japan. Solar power generation, which is a fluctuating natural power source, produces large output fluctuations due to variations in solar radiation. As a result, there is concern that this will impact the frequency and voltage fluctuations of power grids. Fuji Electric used its unique output fluctuation mitigation technology along with storage battery equipment to meet the requirements of the output fluctuation mitigation measures established by the power company.
KAWAKAMI, Koji; HORIUCHI, Yoshimi
The introduction of fuel cells has been expanding in South Korea following the adoption of the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), a regulation that covers new energy sources including fuel cells. Small- and medium-sized power producers in South Korea, Fuji Electric’s target customers, define the specifications for phosphoric acid fuel cells including compatibility with Korean fuel gases, installation area reduction, simplified on-site construction, and cold tolerance. Fuji Electric has achieved these specifications through our research and development and operations. In addition, we provide stable operation using remote monitoring and ensure high reliability based on our prolonged operation in Japan. With these features, the fuel cells have been being introduced into warm bath facilities, such as saunas, and are expected to be widespread.
TANIFUJI, Satoshi; NAKAYAMA, Hiroki; MIZUMOTO, Takayuki
Fuji Electric undertook an engineering, procurement and construction contract to deliver gas turbine combined cycle power generation facilities to the Moka Power Plant operated by Kobelco Power Moka Inc., the first large-scale inland gas thermal power plant in Japan. The facilities include two generators for the gas turbine and two generators for the steam turbine. Although the plant was constructed inland, we could not use inland transportation to deliver the main equipment especially the generators after completion due to the regulations such as the dimensions and the load capacity. Therefore, we adopted new structures, such as block stator structures, to use inland transportation and established onsite manufacturing technology, making it possible to locally manufacture generators for inland installation.
NAKAYAMA, Akinobu; ISHII, Yuichi
The stator winding insulation of rotating machines deteriorates over time due to the composite stress of the electrical, mechanical, thermal and environmental factors during operation. In particular, corrosive gases will be emitted when the insulating surface of the stator winding deteriorates. This can damage the metal parts inside rotating machines, potentially leading to a sudden accident. To solve this problem, Fuji Electric established a method that uses a simple measurement system to quantitatively measure corrosive gases and determine the degree of surface deterioration of stator winding insulation. Combining this online (during operation) gas analysis with conventional offline (during stoppage) inspections can perform more multifaceted and detailed assessments and diagnoses, allowing operators to quickly and accurately understand the state of insulation deterioration.
KOGA, Kazuhiro
The prototype fast breeder reactor Monju is currently in its first stage of decommissioning. The fuel handling facility system provided by Fuji Electric was used to unload and handle the fuel assembly as scheduled. Fuji Electric provided technical assistance, such as dispatching engineers to the JAEA, and overcame problems that had not arisen before to complete the project, thus proving our solid technology for the unloading and handling of the fuel assembly. We will continually acquire and evaluate actual operation data on the fuel handling facility system. Reflecting the results into the design will contribute to the development of next-generation fast reactors, which are essential part of supporting a low-carbon society.
SEKINE, Nobuyuki; MIKAMI, Hisashi; ONOZAKI, Kimihiro
Geopolymer has been attracting attention as a solidifying agent for radioactive waste treatment because it is physically and chemically more stable than cement and provides better confinement of radionuclides and heavy metals. Fuji Electric conducted the first demonstration test in Japan using the filter sludge and spent ion exchange resin disposed by nuclear power plants to facilitate the application of the geopolymer-based advanced solidification technology“ SIAL®”. We confirmed that solidified products filled with radioactive waste up to 40 wt% had higher compressive strength than required for geological disposal. In addition, we confirmed that the partition coefficients of representative radionuclides sufficiently satisfied the configuration values for geological disposal facilities.
New Products
SAISHO, Toshiharu
When a motor, fan, pump, blower, or other piece of machinery suddenly breaks down on a production line, it can take from several hours to several days to recover, resulting in enormous fi nancial losses due to production stoppages during the downtime. In order to prevent these types of sudden failures, measures are increasingly being taken to perform preventive maintenance to monitor motors and other machinery for abnormal vibration. Furthermore, in recent years, companies have been increasingly adopting Internet of Things (IoT) technology into their maintenance operations as a key policy. This has expanded the application of initiatives for measuring vibration. However, when companies endeavor to incorporate vibration measurement initiatives into their maintenance tasks, maintenance personnel often fi nd it very diffi cult to establish threshold values to use as judgment standard values for caution and danger states. Therefore, many companies have been hesitant to adopt actual measures. The “Wiserot” diagnostic system for rotating machine vibration utilizes the expertise cultivated by Fuji Electric as a manufacturer of rotating machinery to provide solutions that enable operators to effectively troubleshoot problems. Recently, Fuji Electric has launched a LAN-connected Wiserot system that can process large amounts of data to meet the need of precise diagnosis at higher resolutions than ever. It can be used in conjunction with conventional wireless Wiserot systems.
Fe-Products Found in Society
A Vending Machine Functioning as a Small Store: A Mask Vending Machine at a Hospital in Kobe