To Create a Sustainable Future on a Global Scale

At present, Wind Farm Tsugaru is operating stably. The 38 wind turbines have been gradually accepted as a new landmark of Tsugaru City. The electricity generated by Wind Farm Tsugaru is transmitted to Tohoku Electric Power Network. Some of the original community benefit program paid from the profits of power generation are used for a demonstration project to grow hydroponic melons, which are one of specialties of Tsugaru City. What does Tsugaru City think of wind power generation? What is the city’s future vision? We asked Mayor Kuramitsu.

“GPI’s project represents the ideal relationship between local communities and wind power generation. GPI is a business operator, but it is also our partner in deepening understanding of local communities, ensuring communication, thinking together what is necessary for Tsugaru City and what should be done, and taking action. In fact, specific efforts are underway to facilitate collaboration and conduct a study to revitalize agriculture, forestry and fishery. A study has been conducted on the possibility of establishing a large offshore wind power generation project. The city is confident that the wind is the most suitable for wind power generation in Japan. We hope to raise our profile as a center of wind power generation in Japan and a producer of clean energy. With the wind power generation facility in place, I will accelerate the revitalization of local communities and breathe new life into Tsugaru City in cooperation with the citizens,” said Kuramitsu.

High hopes are pinned on the efforts to promote the development of local communities and revitalize local communities with wind power generation as a new beginning, which Kuramitsu mentioned. Tsugaru City also deserves much attention as a model of a sustainable city powered by renewable energy to help prevent global warming.

The project was a turning point for both GPI and our electricity project business. The key point was the underground installation of long distance high-voltage cables for a distance of about 34 km, which was a first for Japan.

“This was an unprecedented and extremely challenging mission. From the initial phase, we placed high trust in the Sumitomo Electric Group’s engineering capabilities and high expectations on the group’s overall capability. In fact, the project moved forward thanks to the Sumitomo Electric Group’s solutions for the phenomena peculiar to long distance high-voltage cables. The underground installation of long distance high-voltage cables will become the industrial standard in the future. Since completing this project, we have embarked on new wind power generation projects in Tohoku and Hokkaido with support from the Sumitomo Electric Group. We will promote cooperation and collaboration with the Sumitomo Electric Group to expand the renewable energy business in Japan,” said Mitsuhashi.

As GPI works actively to develop its renewable energy business, what future vision does it have?

“Because the Japanese government declared that it will achieve a carbon-free society by 2050, there has been growing momentum in Japan to use renewable energy as the main source of power. As a business operator, we will endeavor to increase the number of power generation sources, but we must consider how to efficiently supply renewable energy produced in local areas to large cities, where electricity demand is high. Of course, it is necessary to study new models of cooperation with electric power companies. Such efforts will improve Japan’s energy situation. We hope to work with the Sumitomo Electric Group as a good partner into the future,” said Mitsuhashi.

The Sumitomo Electric Group’s efforts in the Wind Farm Tsugaru project were breakthorugh in that the group offered comprehensive solutions to reliably achieve grid connection of the wind farm to the electric power system by both supplying power transmission and distribution cables and designing the system, including the transmission and transformation equipment, instead of simply supplying materials, such as electric cables. The Sumitomo Electric Group has a long history, but this was unprecedented in nature and therefore was considered to be an innovative project. What is the group’s future policy for the renewable energy business? Kazuhira Harada, Director of the Power Cable Project Engineering Div., explained his thinking.

“We accumulated a lot of experience through the project. This has made it possible to further upgrade the transmission and transformation solutions of our group. In fact, our solutions have been highly evaluated by our customers. We have received orders for large-scale wind power generation projects one after another. To meet the growing social needs for renewable energy, we will demonstrate our overall capability through EPC functionality, which is derived from the collaboration within the group. Meanwhile, we must keep our attention focused on overseas markets. 

 DC submarine cables, which represent our group’s proprietary technology, were used for power transmission between the U.K. and Belgium. In Germany, Sumitomo Electric has been awarded a project to lay an underground cable of about 300 km, the longest in the world. Renewable energy projects have been gaining momentum, mainly in Europe. We hope to offer solutions of our group as full EPC-based packages to overseas markets and contribute to the world,” said Harada.

n the Wind Farm Tsugaru project, the Sumitomo Electric Group opened up a new business horizon: the renewable energy field, which is indispensable to the creation of a sustainable future for the world. The Japanese government set a goal of achieving virtually net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. It is necessary to expand the scale of wind power generation and reinforce the power transmission network for wind power generation. The Sumitomo Electric Group believes that efforts to accurately identify renewable energy needs and offer comprehensive proposals and solutions on an ongoing basis will lead to the creation of a sustainable future.