TEPCO aims to become a top runner in global energy services, and supports the sustainable development of energy around the world. By providing technologies and fostering human resources in the electricity sector, we help build electric power infrastructures that are necessary for comfortable living and promote the effective utilization of resources in developing countries.
TEPCO and major electric power companies in the G8 countries engage in international activities aimed at addressing global environmental issues and promoting sustainable energy development, through a nonprofit organization called "e8" (established in 1992).
The e8 members, including TEPCO, contribute to building human resource capacities in developing countries by sponsoring projects and seminars designed to provide information and specialized technologies that promote efficient power generation and electricity use in developing countries.
We also use the electric power technologies we have cultivated through the years to contribute to the sustainable development of energy and to the transfer of technical knowledge concerning the construction and operation of small-scale hydropower plants in developing countries.
From June 2009 to May 2010, TEPCO served as the chair of the e8, and initiated discussions on the "smart use of electricity" through the year. As a result, the e8 members confirmed that the promotion of high-efficiency, low-carbon electric power systems and the smart use of electricity based on the dissemination of high-efficiency appliances such as heat pumps and the shift to electricity use from other heat sources are effective countermeasures to climate change, and announced an e8 declaration on the smart use of electricity at the Tokyo Summit held in May.
e8 Tokyo Summit logo
e8 Tokyo Summit
Rice terraces in Ifugao Province
As a specific project under the framework of the e8, we focused on the abundance of water resources in the Philippines and launched a small-scale hydropower plant project as a means for helping to preserve the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the "Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras*".
Our technical expertise in hydropower generation was instrumental in constructing a 200 kW power plant in Ifugao Province, which was donated to the Philippine government upon its completion in January 2010. It is now in operation, and the profit from selling the produced electricity to the local power distribution association will be used to preserve the rice terraces.
We hope this project will serve as a specific model and promote global interest and support in the preservation of rice terraces in the Philippines.
*Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras
The rice terraces were referred to as the "stairways to heaven" for their magnificent landscape, and were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1955. Thereafter, however, they have gradually fallen to ruin as a result of modernization trends that have lured the local population to the cities. In 2001, the site was placed on the World Heritage in Danger List.
Training of power plant operators
Power generation facility (sand basin)
The TEPCO Group offers a wide range of overseas consulting services based on its technical capabilities, expertise, human resources and other such management resources, to both contribute to the international community and to develop and expand its business.
Energy conservation is a major concern in Serbia, where energy consumption per GDP is comparatively high and energy resources other than coal are dependent on imports. In light of this situation, the country is seeking to introduce a system that would promote active energy-saving efforts by energy users.
In support of this initiative, TEPCO is implementing a study on the introduction of an energy management system in Serbia, under contract from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). A survey team dispatched to Serbia is providing assistance in designing and introducing an optimum energy management system.
Local workshop in Serbia
In Vietnam, we are implementing a project to support the country's national power development plan, under contract from JICA.
The Vietnamese government is slated to formulate the Seventh National Power Development Plan, which will define the country's national energy policies for the next twenty years, and the project will provide technical cooperation in making power demand estimations and preparing power system plans that are necessary for the formulation of the development plan. More specifically, through a series of five local studies, we will review the Sixth National Power Development Plan, evaluate and examine measures for improving the current power demand estimation method, and evaluate and provide support for power system plans that include power transmission from a nuclear power plant the country is planning to construct.
Local meeting in Vietnam
Map of major overseas consultancy projects
TEPCO and other Japanese electric power companies are transferring Japan's clean and efficient technologies abroad and promoting other initiatives for global-scale reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the power generation sector, through participation in international cooperation activities sponsored by the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate (APP).
Japan's thermal power plants boast the world's highest levels of thermal power generation efficiency. While it is important to promote technology development to attain even higher levels of efficiency in the future, there is also great significance in implementing initiatives for the application of the high-efficiency technologies of Japanese electric power companies to emerging countries where power generation efficiency is still relatively low.
Thermal power generation efficiency in major countries
Source: ECOFYS, “International Comparison of Fossil Power Efficiency and CO2 Intensity,” 2009
The thermal efficiency of thermal power plants particularly in developing countries tend to decline significantly with age once they commence operations. However, by improving operational and maintenance management methods, the same level of efficiency improvement can be expected as that which can be achieved through an overhaul of plant facilities. Improvement of operational and maintenance management methods also allows high-efficiency power plants to maintain their efficiency into the future (prevent efficiency decline), and is effective not only in preventing global warming but also in reducing fossil fuel consumption.
To support the development and improvement of technologies and skills that contribute to global warming on a global scale, TEPCO takes an active part in international cooperation activities sponsored by the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate (APP).
The APP was established in 2006 to promote the development, dissemination, and transfer of clean, efficient technologies toward energy security and climate change prevention. Its members include governmental agencies and private companies from the seven countries of Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, the United States, and Canada.
The seven countries are responsible for roughly half of the world's total CO2 emission. Therefore, APP's practical initiatives aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions are significant as effective global warming countermeasures.
As one of APP's international cooperation activities in the power generation sector, TEPCO regularly participates in peer review activities toward the maintenance and improvement of thermal efficiency in coal-fired thermal power plants.
In 2009, the fifth peer review was held in South Korea. As a result of examining the causes of efficiency decline according to an efficient diagnosis method, it was found that the relevant power plants in South Korea have the potential to improve their thermal efficiency by about 0.6% (corresponding to an annual CO2 reduction of roughly 58,000 tons).
The APP estimates that the United States, China and India combined could reduce around 1.3 billion tons of CO2, equivalent to total CO2 emission by Japan, if their coal-fired thermal power plants reach the same level of efficiency as the latest plants in Japan. TEPCO will therefore continue to take part in the international cooperation activities of the APP.
*Peer review
Activities in which power generation engineers (peers) mutually visit power plants in member countries and share best practices in problem solving through specialized exchanges of views toward their practical implementation.
Fifth peer review (in South Korea)
Efficiency improvement and CO2 reduction potentials confirmed through peer reviews
| Third peer review (US) | Confirmed a thermal efficiency improvement potential of 1.0 – 1.5% (corresponding to an annual CO2 reduction of approx. 90,000 tons/unit) |
|---|---|
| Fourth peer review (Australia) | Confirmed a thermal efficiency improvement potential of 0.5% (corresponding to an annual CO2 reduction of approx. 24,000 tons/unit) |
| Fifth peer review (S. Korea) | Confirmed a thermal efficiency improvement potential of 0.6% (corresponding to an annual CO2 reduction of approx. 58,000 tons/unit) |
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