Specification design of renewable energy management system for recovery planning of Japanese coastal community after tsunami disaster

Abstract

The 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and associated tsunami destroyed cities along the Pacific coast of northeast Japan. Large areas, including the city centers, of many cities were completely destroyed. Recovery planning for those cities is one of the most important issues facing Japan. However, recovery plans should not merely rebuild the cities as they were before the disaster, but instead should attempt to add value to the cities. Our team created a conceptual recovery plan for a coastal community in Iwate Prefecture, Japan, introducing a photovoltaic (PV) power plant and storage battery system. Moreover, we proposed the optimal scale of the required PV power plant and energy storage system by using an energy management simulation. Finally, we demonstrated that a PV power plant with a battery storage system can supply the coastal community with electric power stably and can smooth the fluctuations in power supplied by a system power supplier. © Springer-Verlag London 2013.