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Toshiba Corp has started a retail electricity business to supply electricity to utility customers in Kanagawa Prefecture by procuring electricity from on-roof solar power generation facilities in the prefecture.
The project was selected as the "Project to Construct Regional Power Supply System for Fiscal 2015," for which Kanagawa Prefecture called for proposals from the public in July 2015. It is aimed at realizing local production of power for local consumption in the prefecture. The prefecture provided 1/3 of the project cost as a subsidy.
On the roofs of three dormitories for the judo team of Tokai University in Hiratsuka City, Kanagawa Prefecture, 47.5kW of solar panels manufactured by Toshiba were installed. The power producer for the facilities is Toshiba Plant Systems & Services Corp.
Tokai University leases the roofs to Toshiba Plant Systems & Services and receives a rent. Fuyo General Lease Co Ltd raised money for installing the solar power generation facilities and signed a leasing contract with Toshiba Plant Systems & Services.
Toshiba purchases electricity generated and sells it to utility customers in the prefecture at a low price. The company started supplying electricity to high-voltage customers such as manufacturing plants and office buildings Feb 1.
In April, when the retail electricity market for general households will be liberalized, Toshiba will start to sell electricity to general households in addition to the dorms. It will sell power to the dorms at a price about 5% lower than before.
In July 2015, Toshiba submitted a notification that it would become a power producer supplier (PPS). It plans to consider business models for providing low-priced electricity by combining the company's energy-saving products such as solar power generation systems, lighting equipment, air-conditioning systems, etc. The business models include the scheme of installing solar panel on roofs.
© Japan Today
5 Comments
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SenseNotSoCommon
Good news from Toshiba. How refreshing.
Yubaru
This is just the start, when all the PPS come on line the consumer is going to have a ton of options in areas that have multiple providers.
There will be a ton of optional plans as well, like a cell-phone/electric plan, propane gas/electric plan, and plans to fit the needs of the user. For example, a single person, living alone, might choose a plan that charges high rates during the day time, when overall usage is very high, but they are never home, hence their bill will be far cheaper than their current bill.
My only question for Toshiba though is that as they are using solar, I wonder how they plan on keeping a stable power supply if their panels are not producing enough energy for their customers needs? Do they have a plan to back up their solar with traditional providers?
Citizen2012
I would say by funneling TEPCO's electricity, Toshiba has too many ties with them and as there is so many labeling fraud already on the food provenance market I won't be surprised to see Nuclear electricity sold as "100% solar made".
5SpeedRacer5
Bizarre. I don't think anyone who read the article really understood it. Let's just try to figure it out. FIrst of all, is this 47.5 kW their entire portfolio? Gee I hope not. Let's just say that is about 10 homes' worth. Very small potatoes.
I think their business model is to lease rooftop space from x and put solar panels there, and then provide power to y at some discount from the regular utility rates. x likes the deal because they get lease funds. y gets a slight discount on their electric bill. Toshiba has to finance and build the solar array.
Does anyone see the problem? Anybody? Buehller?
Well, the article mentions 5% as the discount. Remember that is 5% off of the base rate. Fees to the utility and line charges still apply, so the 5% discount might be more like 2 or 3%. And Toshiba takes all the risk and all the expense for the solar panels in addition to paying the lease on the roof.
In fact, this business plan is guaranteed to give Toshiba a lower return then YOU will get if you put panels on your own roof. They will have higher costs than if they used their own buildings, and they will have lower revenues than if they just sold their power to the utility.
This is a business proposition with a ceiling on profits, not a floor. Toshiba is wasting money doing this.
1glenn
Here in California, about 5% of our electricity comes from roof-top solar, and another 5+% comes from solar farms out in the deserts. Roof-top solar can really make a difference.