Smart Community

In addition to energy conservation and cost savings, the introduction of distributed power generators is expected to bring new benefits such as users’ resilient access to electric energy. To enhance the capacity of distributed power generation, co-introduction of combined heat and power coupled with solar panels and wind turbines is a promising approach. The Smart Community is a state of energy use in the residential and commercial sectors where distributed power generators are connected to form a network with user equipment and power storages as its nodes. Here, connection refers to transmission and utilization of power and information on the network state. To build a new energy system that contributes to energy conservation and the spread of renewable energy, the following benefits are pursued in the Smart Community: (1) energy conservation by “networked area energy use”; (2) contribution to stable electric power supply by total energy management, including demand-response measures and suppression of frequency fluctuation caused by intermittent renewable energy; and (3) Secure energy in designated areas.