Green Energy Transition Facing Japan's Energy System Collapse This Winter

The development of "green" energy around the world is proceeding by leaps and bounds, but besides the obvious advantages, it also has significant disadvantages. The winter of 2020-2021 perfectly highlighted these very problems that require an obligatory solution.

After all, the general closure of nuclear power plants and the almost ubiquitous transition to solar generation during the period of strong porosity and a large volume of snow has led to the fact that the reserve generation capacity has decreased to a dangerous level of 1-2% instead of the prescribed 7-8%.

Moreover, this situation has been observed for several weeks in a row, which puts the nation in front of an energy collapse.

Energy deficit and emergency measures

Thus, by order of the Organization for Interregional Coordination of Transmission Operators (OSTO), all companies in the Japanese energy sector were obliged to redirect surplus energy to neighboring regions.

In fact, this is an unprecedented case, as Japan's energy system is divided among ten companies. Moreover, each is responsible for its own prefecture and did not interfere in any way in the affairs of its neighbors.

But the close to catastrophic situation has forced at least 140 transmissions of electricity to adjacent regions, which is a unique case for Japan.

The conditions for such unprecedented measures were the abnormal cold that hit the northern part of Kyushu. This was the reason for the fall in solar energy production from 5600 MW to 3240 MW (a decrease of 42% from the level of ten days ago).

And, for example, the output power from the Tepco company, which provides a fairly large region of Tokyo, and due to solar panels ensures the generation of more than 1000 MW during the period of severe cold weather and a large volume of snow, practically did not generate electricity.

The reasons for this phenomenon

The accident at the nuclear power plant in Fukushima, which occurred on March 11, 2011, became the starting point after which all nuclear power plants in the country were stopped.

And over the past years, the country has relied on liquefied gas generation (such plants are easy to start and stop to smooth out peak loads), as well as solar panels.

But the situation with gas is such that it is all purchased in Japan and the storage facilities are designed for a maximum of 2 weeks of operation. And due to the high demand (winter was snowy and cold everywhere), supplies can be expected up to several months.

In addition, due to the active struggle to reduce the carbon footprint, all power plants operating on fuel oil were shut down even earlier. It was the addition of all these factors that put the entire energy system of Japan on the verge of collapse.

The shift to green energy is a pervasive trend, but as the example of Japan has shown, before relying entirely on sun, wind, etc. energy sources, it is necessary to fully develop the industry for accumulating surplus energy, so that their capacity is sufficient for such unforeseen situations.

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