Measures to Counter Climate Change

Installation of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC)

The SOFC is a very energy-efficient power generating unit that produces electricity through a chemical reaction between a fuel (hydrogen) and oxygen. It can also provide heat as an energy source by retrieving waste heat from this chemical reaction. Kyocera has installed a total of 17 SOFCs at our Shiga Gamo, Shiga Yohkaichi, Shiga Yasu, and Kagoshima Kokubu plants. The retrieved waste heat is used to heat the cafeteria hot water supply, to provide supplemental hot water for the boilers, and to heat water for absorption chillers that produce air conditioning. A storage battery and solar power generation system were installed with the SOFC at the Kagoshima Kokubu Plant. Going forward, we will carry out three battery control demonstration tests and further actions to counter climate change while reducing energy costs.

Renewable Energy “Self-wheeling” Demonstration Test Utilizing Storage Batteries

When a site cannot be secured for a solar power generating system, renewable energy can be used by the “self-wheeling” of electric power from solar power generating systems located elsewhere. In July 2020, Kyocera Corporation launched demonstration tests of Japan’s first renewable energy self-wheeling system using a storage battery in Yasu, Shiga Prefecture. A Kyocera-manufactured 150 kW solar power generating system was constructed on a roughly 2,000 m² site owned by the city of Yasu. The renewable energy generated by the system is supplied to our Shiga Yasu Plant, approximately two kilometers away, via Kansai Transmission and Distribution, Inc’s electrical power grid. Via this demonstration test, we aim to establish a business model for “Self-wheeling,” for which we expect to see a growing demand in the near future.

RE100 Initiative

Kyocera and Digital Grid Corporation are carrying out a demonstration test of renewable peer-to-peer (P2P)^*1 electric power transactions at our Yokohama Nakayama Office. In this demonstration test, surplus power from former FIT solar panels installed at the homes of Kyocera employees and power from Kyocera's newly-built non-FIT solar power plant in Asahi, Chiba Prefecture, is adjusted by a Digital Grid Platform and supplied to our Yokohama Nakayama Office. This office also utilizes power from its existing on-site non-FIT solar power plant. If the combined electrical power is insufficient to meet demand, any shortfall will be supplied by power purchased from the Japan Electric Power Exchange (JEPX) with non-fossil-fuel energy certificates and tracking information from Kyocera's existing FIT photovoltaic power plant. This demonstration test means that all of the electricity consumed by the Yokohama Nakayama Office will come from solar energy.

• Peer-to-peer (P2P) electric power transactions make use of advanced technologies that utilize AI, for example, to predict power generation output, collect power from sources such as residential homes and/or business facilities that own solar installations and storage batteries, and then supply that power to homes and other points of variable electric power demand.

Energy-saving Policy: Installation of Waste Heat Recovery Chillers

A waste heat recovery chiller utilizes heat pump technology to retrieve and use low-temperature heat. At our Yamagata Higashine and Kagoshima Sendai plants, we had previously heated water for air conditioning via boiler steam heat exchange, but we installed waste heat recovery chillers that retrieve waste heat generated by the turbo refrigerator’s coolant system and use it to heat the water, thereby reducing the amount of boiler fuel used.

Reduced CO₂ Emissions

324 (t-CO₂/year)

Introduction of Solar Power Generation Systems

We are installing solar power generation systems at our premises in Japan and overseas.