National energy policies around the world have transitioned from seeking the best energy mix to aiming for early conversion to renewable energy toward realizing a sustainable society. Japanese companies and municipalities can reduce CO₂ emissions by entering a contract with a retail electricity supplier that has a low CO₂ emission factor. Hitachi Zosen’s power supply portfolio is built around Waste to Energy (WtE) plant and boasts a low CO₂ emission factor. We meet the needs of companies and municipalities that care about the global environment.

In 2019, Hitachi Zosen delivered the WtE plant Nagano Environmental Energy Center to the Nagano Regional Association, comprising three cities, four towns, and two villages in Nagano Prefecture, and concurrently concluded an electricity supply contract with Nagano City.
This represents a model program of local production, local consumption of power. Hitachi Zosen purchases all surplus electricity generated by the Nagano Environmental Energy Center (about 32 million kWh annually), and supplies it to a total of 80 municipal elementary, middle, and high schools in Nagano City.

In partnership with Nagano City, Hitachi Zosen also organized lessons in the WtE mechanism for pupils at one of the schools that receive power through the model program. Garbage mixed is waste, but garbage separated is a resource—the lessons sought to teach the pupils how the garbage they produce turns into electricity that they consume at school. It has proven meaningful to contribute to energy independence at the community level and the realization a low-carbon society, and provide accessible opportunities to learn about environmental issues in Nagano City, which has high awareness about environmental issues.

Hitachi Zosen employees in Electricity Retail Business Department served as instructors at Nagano Municipal Shinonoinishi Elementary School, which receives power through the model program. Through lectures, quizzes, and experiments, they taught some 120 fourth graders the mechanism of thermal recycling, where garbage turns into an energy source.

Establishing a retail electricity business office toward realizing low-carbon communities; local production, local consumption of power; the resolution of waste disposal issues; and energy independence

To date, Hitachi Zosen has responded to the issue of expanding waste volumes around the world with the construction of WtE plant. In 2015, we moved to use the surplus electricity generated by these WtE plant by establishing Electricity Retail Business Department and entering the retail electricity business in Japan.
Our business model promises community-level energy independence by disposing of garbage generated by communities with incineration, minimizing CO₂ emissions from the incineration process, producing and using electric power, and supplying surplus electricity to users. At present, we are promoting the business in nine areas excluding Okinawa.

At Hitachi Zosen, we plan to continue promoting the retail electricity business with strengths in environmental value, and leading the transition to renewable energy toward realizing a low-carbon society.

Our aim is to “be a provider of solutions for the creation of a recycling-oriented society.”