[Japan] Chubu Electric Power, Hokuriku Electric Power, and Kansai Electric Power Began Operation of Wide-Area Supply and Demand Adjustment

Chubu Electric Power (Chuden, Headquarters: Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture), Hokuriku Electric Power (Rikuden, Headquarters: Toyama City, Toyama Prefecture), and Kansai Electric Power (KEPCO, Headquarters: Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture) announced on March 12, 2020, that they had begun a joint wide-area supply and demand adjustment in order to improve the efficiency of their power transmission and distribution.

In order to supply electricity, the supply and demand for electricity needs to be balanced. However, power generation and demand may not always be balanced due to power supply loss or errors in demand forecasting. In the past, each utility company had to adjust the supply and demand within their service areas. However, the wide-area supply-demand adjustment allows the utility companies to cooperate in adjusting supply and demand, using the inter-regional interconnection lines connecting their service areas. The partnership helps the utility companies to reduce their operational costs.

The operation of a wide-area supply and demand adjustment is expected to expand as six more major utilities will participate in the plan. The additional six utilities are: Hokkaido Electric Power (HEPCO, Headquarters: Sapporo City, Hokkaido), Tohoku Electric Power (Tohoku, Headquarters: Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture), Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO, Headquarters: Tokyo), TEPCO Power Grid (Headquarters: Tokyo), Chugoku Electric Power (‎EnerGia, Headquarters: Hiroshima City, Hiroshima Prefecture), Shikoku Electric Power (Yonden, Headquarters: Takamatsu City, Kagawa Prefecture), and Kyushu Electric Power (Kyuden, Headquarters: Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture).[1]

[1] http://www.rikuden.co.jp/press/attach/20031201.pdf