The wall to expand renewable energy in Hokkaido June 22, 19:41
Hokkaido where the vast land spreads.
It is one of the areas where the expansion of "renewable energy" such as wind power and solar power is most expected.
However, there is a big wall that is unique to renewable energy for its widespread use.
The wall is that the amount of power generation is unstable.
And you can't send the electricity you made.
We covered the latest movements on how we are trying to overcome these barriers.
(Sapporo Broadcasting Station Reporter Takuma Okazaki / Wakkanai Branch Reporter Nobuaki Yamakawa)
Two barriers to the introduction of renewable energy
Tomamae Town in northern Hokkaido.
When I drove the car, I saw a huge windmill standing in a forest.
With a height of 155 meters, it is comparable to a 30-40 story building.
On the coast of Hokkaido, where the wind conditions are good, there is a lot of room for developing wind power generation that utilizes these wind turbines.
The potential amount of renewable energy resources announced by the Ministry of the Environment is outstanding, with Hokkaido ranked first in wind power, solar power, and small hydropower, and third in geothermal power, by prefecture.
However, its further spread is hampered by two thick walls.
One of them is the "instability" of renewable energy.
The main feature of solar and wind power generation, which is renewable energy, is that it is left to the weather.
When the weather is bad, the amount of solar power generated will decrease.
Wind power cannot be generated when the wind stops.
Electricity cannot be easily stored.
Now, when the amount of power generated by renewable energy decreases, we are dealing with it by increasing the operation of thermal power plants, etc., but the reality is that the more the ratio of renewable energy increases, the more difficult it becomes to adjust. is.
The second wall is "not being able to send electricity".
Areas suitable for generating renewable energy, such as solar and wind power, are far from where they are consumed, so electricity must be sent over long distances.
However, since transmission lines are expensive to maintain, the transmission lines are originally made thinner in areas where electricity demand is low.
For the same reason that there are few large roads in rural areas.
Since we cannot send a large amount of electricity, there are cases where we cannot invest even if we try to increase renewable energy.
Aim to overcome "unstable" with storage batteries
New movements are emerging to overcome these barriers.
In order to solve the problem of "instability" of renewable energy, "storage batteries" that can store the generated electricity are attracting attention again.
In May, I visited a site where a major trading company has been experimenting with storage batteries for seven years.
It is a remote island, Koshiki Island, in Kagoshima prefecture, which is far from Hokkaido.
15 minutes by car after getting off the high-speed boat at the port.
After passing through the mountain road, I saw a closed elementary school with a storage battery.
The first thing that came to my eyes when I entered the site was the solar panels spread on the ground.
Next to that, there were containers containing storage batteries.
"This is a storage battery for an electric vehicle."
Yasuhiro Fujita, General Manager of the Zero Emission Solution Division of Sumitomo Corporation, who came to the site, opened one container and explained as follows.
Inside was the battery of an electric car.
There are 12 in one container.
The other two containers also contain the same number, 36 in total, with a capacity of 600 kW hours.
In fact, these are all "used".
Sumitomo Corporation Fujita Zero Emission Solution Division Manager
"Batteries that have been used up in electric vehicles should be thrown away if they are not used, but we are collecting them and consolidating them in Koshiki Island
. Batteries collected from seven locations nationwide have been collected on this island and are now being operated as a power storage business. "
Why use used batteries?
Why are you using a used battery?
One of the reasons is the low cost.
The storage battery business makes a profit by buying electricity cheaply during the time when the amount of power generated by renewable energy is high and storing it in the storage battery, discharging it during the time when it is low, and selling electricity at a high price.
To make a profit, you have to keep your investment as low as possible.
Even used batteries that can no longer be used for automobiles still have 70% to 80% capacity.
It is said that if you combine multiple batteries, you can still use them as a storage battery.
If the storage battery is used, the price per capacity is about half, so the initial cost can be dramatically reduced.
However, if the used battery deteriorates too much, it will deteriorate its function as a storage battery, so it is important to determine the timing of replacement.
Therefore, the company monitors the degree of deterioration of the battery from the head office in Tokyo with a monitor.
We succeeded in realizing efficient use of the battery by replacing it at the last minute.
Large storage battery with used battery
The results of the experiment are already in the practical stage.
Sumitomo Corporation is currently constructing a storage battery with a capacity of 20,000 kilowatt hours or more in a corner of an industrial complex in Chitose City, Hokkaido, with an investment of one billion yen.
That's enough for a standard household to supply enough electricity for about 2,500 households a day.
Construction will begin in June and is expected to be completed around the summer of 2023.
The storage battery used is a used battery for electric vehicles.
Initially it's about half, but in the future we plan to make everything second-hand.
As a result, the company is confident that it will be able to develop a large-scale storage battery business while keeping costs down.
Sumitomo Corporation Fujita Zero Emission Solution Division Manager
"There are not many efforts to utilize the batteries used in electric vehicles as a power storage system.
I think that they are sufficiently price-competitive compared to the systems of other companies
. If we can confirm the business feasibility and reliability of the business and verify it, we would like to gradually expand to other regions. "
Construction progresses for large storage batteries and others
In addition to this, in Hokkaido, "Global Engineering" (Headquarters, Fukuoka Prefecture), which handles electricity retailing, is located in Chitose City, and a subsidiary of the energy company "Mitsuuroco Group Holdings" (Headquarters, Tokyo) is located in Kitahiroshima City. We are planning to install a large storage battery with the aim of starting operation of Hokkaido.
Similar to Sumitomo Corporation, both companies are investments that anticipate that the amount of renewable energy will increase in Hokkaido in the future, and the opportunities for commercialization of storage batteries will increase.
Experts have also evaluated that increasing investment in storage batteries will lead to a virtuous cycle of promoting the expansion of renewable energy.
I can't send electricity!
In-house maintenance of transmission lines
Companies are trying to deal with the other wall of "not being able to send electricity" by improving their own transmission lines.
That is the power transmission line that connects Wakkanai City to Nakagawa Town in northern Hokkaido.
The total length is about 80 km, and the number of connecting towers is 269.
It is currently under construction and is scheduled to start operation in April next year.
It is a big project with a total project cost of about 100 billion yen.
We are constructing "Northern Hokkaido Wind Power Transmission", which is headquartered in Wakkanai City.
It was established in 2013 with the investment of a wind power generation company and the local Wakkanai Shinkin Bank.
Until now, transmission lines have been maintained by major electric power companies, and the costs are called "consignment charges" and have been collected from companies and households as part of the electricity charges.
However, although the government has subsidized 43.5 billion yen for this transmission line, the company itself bears the remaining 50 billion yen or more.
The reason for doing so is that although large-scale wind power plants are being planned one after another in Northern Hokkaido, there are not enough transmission lines and electricity cannot be sent as it is.
Northern Hokkaido Wind Power Transmission President Yoshimura
"There was a problem that we could not accept the electricity of wind power generation in the northern area anymore.
Thinking about what we could do, the side of the crowded" main road (main power transmission line) " We will create a bypass in Hokkaido and specialize in the electricity generated by wind power generation.
The challenge is to create such a route. "
The company plans to use this transmission line to deliver a total of up to 540,000 kilowatts of electricity to consumption areas such as Sapporo City, which will be generated by 127 wind turbines and 127 wind turbines that are planned to be built in the Soya region within three years.
President Yoshimura hopes that the introduction of renewable energy, centered on wind power generation, will expand further in the future as long as new transmission lines are developed, but it is also necessary to consider how to bear the costs in that case. I point out that there is.
Northern Hokkaido Wind Power Transmission President Yoshimura
"If we are going to build a bigger wind power plant in the future, we have to think about how to increase the transmission line.
Who will bear the cost and how ?
We will continue to think about where to go and where to install it while giving wisdom throughout Japan.
I think that will lead to the expansion of renewable energy in the future. "
Overcoming the challenges of Hokkaido The key to expanding renewable energy
Batteries and power line construction are just one way to solve the problem.
In addition, it remains unclear whether the business will be worth the investment.
In the Basic Energy Plan decided by the Cabinet in 2021, the government has set an ambitious goal to raise the ratio of renewable energy to 36-38% at once as the power source composition for 2030.
There is no doubt that overcoming challenges in areas with high potential, such as Hokkaido, will be the key to achieving this.
Reporter of Sapporo Broadcasting Station Takuma
Okazaki
Joined in 2017
After working at Asahikawa Station, he has been a member since November last year. Currently, his
dream of economics is to have a home with solar panels and storage batteries.
Asahikawa Broadcasting Station Wakkanai Branch Reporter
Nobuaki Yamakawa
Joined in 2019 After working at Kushiro Station, we have
been
covering the natural environment and local railway issues that we
belong to since November last year .