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Photo of Malaga-city, Andalucia, in southern Spain.
Courtesy of www.malaga.us |
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Tokyo, Japan - March 8, 2011
Mitsubishi Corporation (MC: TSE/8058),
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries,
Ltd. (MHI:TSE/7011) and
Hitachi Ltd. (Hitachi: TSE/6501, NYSE/HIT) today announced that they have been jointly selected by
The New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) as participants in a
Smart Community System Demonstration Project (Project) in the area surrounding
Malaga-city, Andalucia, in southern Spain.
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Map of Andalucia
Courtesy of www.malaga.us |
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A smart community is one that
comprehensively manages all types of energy, including electricity, heat and waste energy, and
integrates transportation and other
infrastructure.
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Map of Andalucia regions
Courtesy of www.malaga.us |
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It incorporates an
advanced type of smart grid, which efficiently controls electricity supply and demand by means of
ICT.
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Map of Malaga City
Courtesy of www.malaga.us |
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Countries around the world have been promoting
smart community projects to help build sustainable societies that have a stable supply of
energy, prevent global warming and stimulate economic growth.
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Malaga City – Important Places.
Courtesy of www.malaga.us |
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Creating smart communities, requires an understanding of how societies function in terms of their energy supply and demand, and their potential use of
renewable energy; but knowledge of
different lifestyles is also
very important.
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Photo of Malaga-city, Andalucia, in southern Spain.
Courtesy of www.malaga.us |
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In this respect,
smart community development goes beyond technology.
Demonstration projects like this one
in Spain should help to identify many of the social components that need to be considered.
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Photo of Malaga-city, Andalucia, in southern Spain.
Courtesy of www.malaga.us |
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Comprising a
feasibility study to be conducted until July 29, 2011, and a subsequent demonstration phase that will carry through to the end of
March, 2016, the
Project was made possible by deregulations in
Spain's electric power market and advantages they present in implementing large amounts of
renewable energy.
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Photo of Malaga-city, Andalucia, in southern Spain.
Courtesy of www.malaga.us |
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It will be enhanced by
leveraging state-of-the-art Japanese technologies in renewable energy, energy conservation, and
smart communities.
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Photo of Malaga-city, Andalucia, in southern Spain.
Courtesy of www.malaga.us |
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NEDO, MC, MHI and
Hitachi hope the
Project will give rise to other opportunities for
Japanese companies to develop smart community businesses around the world.
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Photo of Malaga-city, Andalucia, in southern Spain.
Courtesy of www.malaga.us |
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The feasibility study will be conducted in two phases:
• the first to verify the amount of
CO2 emissions produced by major public services in
Malaga City,
• the second to determine
how best to reduce these.
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Photo of Malaga-city, Andalucia, in southern Spain.
Courtesy of www.malaga.us |
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The demonstration phase will focus on the transportation and electric power sectors.
Infrastructure will be installed to facilitate greater use of
electric vehicles (EVs), including EV chargers, an EV center, and the
vehicles themselves.
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Photo of Malaga-city, Andalucia, in southern Spain.
Courtesy of www.malaga.us |
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A smart grid will be set up to ensure electricity is supplied smoothly and safely to the vehicles, as well as
integrated ICT platforms to connect the
new infrastructure to the city's existing power systems.
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Photo of Malaga-city, Andalucia, in southern Spain.
Courtesy of www.malaga.us |
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The details of scope of the demonstration operations will be defined by
NEDO, upon consultation with specialists following the feasibility study phase.
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Photo of Malaga-city, Andalucia, in southern Spain.
Courtesy of www.malaga.us |
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This Project will be conducted under the Japan Spain Innovation Programme (JSIP).
The JSIP enables parallel funding for
joint projects between Japan and Spain to develop technologies, with the provision that the
Japanese companies involved are already approved for funding from
NEDO, and the
Spanish companies involved are approved for funding from
CDTI (Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnological Industrial).
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Photo of Malaga-city, Andalucia, in southern Spain.
Courtesy of www.malaga.us |
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NEDO and
CDTI agreed to foster cooperative research, development and demonstration of
smart grid-related technologies by signing a letter of intent in September 2010.
Endesa S.A., Telefonica, Sadiel and
Malaga City will participate in the
Project.
MC will offer its global business expertise, while
MHI will contribute its
Technology Integration/Intelligent Transport System.
Hitachi's involvement will be through incorporation of their
energy management and
ICT systems.
Cooperating on the
Project will be
Endesa S.A. and
Telefonica, Spain's biggest electric power and
ICT companies respectively.
About Mitsubishi Corporation
Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) is Japan's largest general trading company (sogo shosha) with over 200 bases of operations in approximately
80 countries worldwide.
Together with its over
500 group companies, MC employs a multinational workforce of approximately
60,000 people.
MC has long been engaged in business with customers around the world in
virtually every industry, including energy, metals, machinery, chemicals, food and
general merchandise.
MC seeks to contribute to the enrichment of society through business firmly rooted in principles of fairness and integrity.
For more information on
Mitsubishi Corporation, please visit the company's website at
http://www.mitsubishicorp.com/jp/en/
About Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, Is one of the
world's leading heavy machinery manufacturers, with consolidated sales of
2,940.8 billion yen in fiscal year 2009 ended March 31, 2010.
MHI's diverse lineup of
products and services encompasses
shipbuilding, power plants, chemical plants, environmental equipment, steel structures, industrial and general machinery, aircraft, space rocketry and
air-conditioning systems.
For more information, please visit the
MHI website
http://www.mhi.co.jp/en/index.html
About Hitachi
Hitachi, Ltd., (NYSE: HIT / TSE: 6501),
headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a
leading global electronics company with approximately
360,000 employees worldwide.
Fiscal 2009 (ended March 31, 2010) consolidated revenues totaled
8,968 billion yen ($96.4 billion).
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Hiroaki Nakanishi, President, Hitachi, Ltd.
Courtesy of Hitachi, Ltd. |
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Hitachi will focus more than ever on the
Social Innovation Business, which includes information and telecommunication systems, power systems, environmental, industrial and transportation systems, and social and urban systems, as well as the sophisticated materials and key devices that support them.
For more information on
Hitachi, please visit the company's website at
http://www.hitachi.com
Source: Hitachi, Ltd.
http://www.hitachi.com/New/cnews/110308.html
ASTROMAN magazine