The worsening of global environmental problems over recent years has seen measures adopted globally aimed at creating a decarbonized society. Hitachi is taking action to overcome this challenge by assigning a central role to its energy solutions business. This issue focuses on future directions and new initiatives for Hitachi’s energy business as it seeks to realize a decarbonized society.
Climate change is having enormous effects on all regions around the world. The University of Tokyo and Hitachi are engaging in collaborative creation to build a better society, establishing Hitachi-UTokyo Laboratory as part of a new scheme. Shinobu Yoshimura, Vice President of the University of Tokyo talks about energy systems for Society 5.0.
The energy industry is approaching a major turning point. Enhancing three different forms of value, namely social, environmental, and economic value. As it works to advance its Social Innovation Business, how will Hitachi go about contributing to overcoming the challenges associated with energy?
Against an accelerating trend toward decarbonized societies, there is also a growing trend to build smarter and more resilient energy systems. What sort of energy systems will digital technology bring in the near future? In this article, three key people discuss the question.
Advances in digital technologies are bringing major changes to the energy industry. In North America, a market with a wide range of electric utilities, Hitachi is engaging in collaborative creation with customers to create digital solution businesses that address the challenges facing customers using Hitachi’s own comprehensive capabilities.
The levels of greenhouse gases have reached a record high. One key strategy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions is to transition vehicles away from the internal combustion engine to zero-carbon technology. Hitachi Group including Hitachi Vantara Limited leads a project consortium called Optimise Prime aimed at the mass adoption of EVs in the UK.
In Japan, AC has been the dominant means of providing grid connections. Now, however, the installation of HVDC systems is increasing at a rapid pace around the world because the economical justifiability for using HVDC to strengthen grid connections has been demonstrated. This article describes the current state of the HVDC market focusing on VSC HVDC.
Active steps are being taken to move toward a decarbonized society. Energy markets, meanwhile, are undergoing a major paradigm shift on both the supply and demand sides as a result of new developments brought about by deregulation and digital technology. This section highlights the three areas of power grids, distributed energy solutions, and energy management, describing Hitachi’s technologies and solutions that are helping achieve a decarbonized society.
As a reliable source of electric power that does not emit greenhouse gases, coexistence with nuclear energy plays an important part in realizing a decarbonized society. This section describes the development of robot technology for decommissioning at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant; the development of new reactor designs in response to the needs of society; and KM activities for passing on skills and knowledge of nuclear energy to the next generation.