Taiwan's recent spate of earthquakes has put the spotlight on the island's power supply stability.
With its dense population and seismic activity, Taiwan faces formidable challenges in maintaining a steady energy supply. Similarly, Japan is also threatened by quakes. In response, Japan initiated the development of virtual power plants (VPPs) in 2016.
Experts highlight that Japan's approach to renewable energy parallels Taiwan's, with VPPs requiring careful balancing of supply and demand for stability. Power stability is critical to national economic development. The resilience of the power grid to support industrial growth is now a central topic of discussion.
The Taiwan Power and Energy Engineering Association notes that following the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami and the resulting Fukushima nuclear accident, Japan vigorously promoted VPPs. These integrate distributed energy sources into the grid via information and communication systems, providing collective power. This method contrasts with the benefits of traditional large power plants in mitigating peak demand.
Both Taiwan and Japan operate independent power grids, which means they cannot rely on external power to bridge internal supply and demand gaps. This makes their energy structures more susceptible to disruptions from natural disasters and other external factors, necessitating self-reliance in energy production and resources.
According to the Mitsubishi Research Institute, VPPs have been crucial to Japan's energy reforms post-2011. The government has encouraged large domestic power entities to develop VPPs through public-private partnerships.
Japan's renewable energy capacity stands at approximately 23%, with projections to reach 36-38% by 2030. While this progress is slower compared to Taiwan, Japan's demand for renewable energy is steadily rising. Both nations face similar challenges in balancing supply and demand when integrating distributed power resources.
VPPs have emerged as a new focal point in Japan's energy sector. Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions Corporation, for example, launched Negawatt Aggregation Services in 2017 and introduced AI-driven Renewable Energy Aggregation Services in 2022. These services aid green energy producers, power institutions, and customers in the early stages of VPP implementation.
Toshiba reveals that Japan's Feed-in Premium (FIP) system, initiated in 2022, positions renewable energy as a primary power source. New challenges include precise power generation forecasting to mitigate imbalance risks and optimizing market transactions or corporate power purchase agreements to ensure profitability. Toshiba leverages its meteorological forecasting system to estimate solar energy output at various times and combines this with power market price forecasts for optimal automated market transactions.
Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) is exploring VPP applications in EV charging and discharging. Between 2018 and 2020, TEPCO developed a remote control charging and discharging system for EVs and is considering international collaborations to use EVs as VPP resources.
To balance customer and operational benefits, TEPCO is tackling the challenge of developing and popularizing vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technology. The company has created the "EIBS V" energy storage system, which integrates multifunctional PCS, V2H units, and lithium batteries, slated for launch in the summer of 2024.
