While Energy.gov was celebrating #GridWeek, I traveled to Japan for the 6th International Conference on the Integration of Renewable and Distributed Energy Resources. I got to see firsthand some of the innovative work being done with solar technology, batteries and smart cities.

Industry, government and academia created the conference to develop and deploy technologies for grid connection of renewable energy and distributed energy sources, smart communities and smart grids. Discussions covered standards, modeling and simulation, end-user energy management systems and lessons learned from large project demonstrations.

I also had the honor of touring the Sharp Sakai factory, the largest solar photovoltaic manufacturing facility in Japan. The automation and product innovation at the facility were impressive. I also toured Sumitomo Electric’s redox flow battery system, micro smart-grid demonstration system and concentrator photovoltaic technology. Sumitomo is a manufacturer of products used for power transmission, distribution and storage.

The highlights of the trip were discussions with Hitachi and a site visit to Kashiwa-No-Ha Smart City, A New Vision for the Cities of Tomorrow. The city is a public-private-academic partnership to create support for new industries as well as the health and longevity of its citizens. They have focused on a system that uses photovoltaics, storage battery facilities, wind power generation and a gas-powered generator (for emergency use) to optimize energy use while reducing environmental impact. The city also provides business and continuity plans for emergency support in the event of a power outage.

Japan and other countries around the world, including the U.S., are taking hold of advanced information technologies to improve grid modernization. While there is still significant work to be done on business models, information architectures and cost reduction, the progress to date has provided a platform for innovation. It is exciting to see some of the advancements and also the sharing of lessons learned.

I hope you learned something this week about how the power grid works and the exciting transformation that is making our electric delivery system more resilient, reliable and secure.

To learn more about the Department’s efforts to drive electric grid modernization and resiliency in the energy infrastructure, visit the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability’s website.