Asia - Japan 
Challenge
Typhoon Faxai caused a major power outage in Japan’s Chiba Prefecture in 2019, exposing centralized power systems’ vulnerability to natural disasters.
Solution
Localized microgrids use natural gas and underground power lines to maintain electricity supply to homes and a disaster hub throughout the outage.
Overview
CHIBA Mutsuzawa Energy is a new electricity provider (shin denryoku1) established in June 2016 by the town of Mutsuzawa in Japan’s Chiba Prefecture, along with local businesses. The town and businesses set the provider up to create a recycling-based energy supply system using resources produced within Mutsuzawa, as part of the Mutsuzawa Smart Wellness Town Development Project – a local comprehensive strategy initiative.
The national government supported the project through its “Subsidy for Projects to Promote Local Production for Local Consumption of Energy that Utilizes Regional Characteristics (Support for the Construction of Distributed Energy Systems)” and “Subsidy for Projects to Curb Carbon Dioxide Emissions (Support for the Construction of Distributed Energy Systems by Private Sector Businesses).”
The company launched its local production for local consumption energy business on September 1, 2019, receiving natural gas produced in Mutsuzawa to generate electricity for Mutsuzawa Smart Wellness Town, including the roadside station (michi-no-eki2) named Mutsuzawa Tsudoi-no-Sato and the surrounding public housing complexes.
Typhoon Faxai and the blackout response
Typhoon Faxai damaged the transmission lines of Tokyo Electric Power Company at around 3 a.m. on September 9, 2019, causing a large-scale power outage across a wide area of Chiba, including all of Mutsuzawa.
CHIBA Mutsuzawa Energy had installed its power lines underground, and these sustained almost no damage. The company started up its gas engine generators at around 9 a.m. the same day and began supplying electricity to public housing and facilities at the roadside station.
The company began providing free hot showers to local residents from 10 a.m. on September 10, heating tap water using exhaust heat from the gas engine generators. Power supply continued until Tokyo Electric Power Company restored power at around 9 a.m. on September 11.
Local production for local consumption
The national government selected Mutsuzawa Tsudoi-no-Sato as a national priority roadside station, expected to serve as a disaster prevention base during wide-area disasters. The gas-powered generators installed there allow the facility to continue supplying energy to some of the facilities in the town’s roadside station and to all the houses in the surrounding area, even during a power outage. CHIBA Mutsuzawa Energy fulfilled this role immediately despite the short preparation time at the time of the disaster.
The local production model also extends to waste heat. The system uses heat from the power generators to heat the brine (a byproduct of natural gas extraction and often called “produced water”), supplying it to the hot spring bath facility next to the roadside station. The company explained that this is a very rare initiative in Japan that makes 100% use of the local resource of water-soluble natural gas without wasting any of it. Solar power generation and solar water heaters also contribute to greenhouse gas reduction.
CHIBA Mutsuzawa Energy supplies electricity to homes via its own private power lines. All lines are buried underground, both for aesthetic reasons and disaster prevention. The company returns profits from the energy business to health promotion projects and other initiatives in Mutsuzawa.
Footnotes
- 1Shin denryoku: A new entrant to the retail power sector. Aspecified-scale electricity provider that supplies electricity to customers with a contract demand of 50 kW or more via private power lines owned by general electricity providers. Also formerly known as Power Producer and Supplier (PPS), a term changed to “new electricity provider” by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry’s Agency for Natural Resources and Energy in March 2012.
- 2Michi-no-eki: Roadside stations in Japan. They serve as rest stops but also promote local tourism and products, and act as community hubs. Mutsuzawa Tsudoi-no-Sato is designated as a national priority roadside station and a disaster prevention base.
Acknowledgements
This report is based on publicly available information from the Kankyo Business website. Acknowledgement is given to the organizations that made this knowledge accessible. Reported by IGES, edited and updated by AP-PLAT.
Related Links / References
- CHIBA Mutsuzawa Energy [Japanese website]
- Ministry of the Environment, Japan: Examples of Action-Oriented Solutions to Local Challenges [Mutsuzawa, Chiba] – Development of microgrids to provide an uninterrupted supply of energy during disaster
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