Shikoku Electric Power and its subsidiary, Shikoku Research Institute[1], announced on May 22, 2019, that they will launch a demonstration project to examine the feasibility of remotely controlling solar power systems for supplying electricity to electric water heaters and EcoCute heat pump systems that are installed in its residential customers’ houses. EcoCute is an energy efficient electric heat pump system that generates hot water by recovering heat energy from air.
By forecasting the expected level of solar power generation for the next day, the project will shift some normal usage of customer electric water heaters from nighttime hours to daytime to use excess solar electricity produced during daytime. This shift is enabled by demand response technology developed by Shikoku Research Institute, and would lead to optimization of solar power generation operations as well as stabilization of power supply and demand. The project will collaborate with 40 customer households in Takamatsu City and the Chusan/Seisan area in Kagawa Prefecture. Data collection, analysis, and evaluation will be carried out over approximately one year beginning fall 2019. Data will be collected remotely about 60 times throughout this period, without any inconvenience for customers.
The project aims to verify the feasibility of the remote-control technology for solar power, as part of Shikoku Electric Power and Shikoku Research Institute’s efforts for improving effective energy utilization[2]
[2] https://www.yonden.co.jp/press/2019/__icsFiles/afieldfile/2019/05/21/pr005.pdf
https://www.yonden.co.jp/press/2019/1190011_2420.html