Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. has agreed to supply J-Oil Mills’ Yokohama Plant with steam created by the waste heat from the cogeneration system at Nissan Motor Co.’s Yokohama Plant. The collaboration between J-Oil Mills, Inc. and Energy Advance Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd., has already commenced with the construction of supply pipes that will transport water and steam. This agreement marks the first time that clients of Tokyo Gas will work with a company and plant from a different industry to promote energy conservation and CO2 emissions reduction through the provision of steam.*¹
In 2006, Nissan’s Yokohama Plant entered an agreement with Energy Advance, a company specializing in energy solutions, to establish a cogeneration system that would supply the Nissan Yokohama Plant Area No. 3 with electricity and steam.*²
By establishing additional cogeneration systems in Nissan’s Yokohama Plant Area No. 3, Nissan officials discovered that the steam created to match the capacity necessary for Nissan’s energy needs created more waste heat from the system than could be fully used. By supplying J-Oil Mills with much-needed steam for heat from the cogeneration system, the maximum potential of the system can be realized. Meanwhile, significant energy conservation and CO2emission reductions can also be achieved thanks to the collaborative use of this dispersive energy system.
Through the provision of steam, the partners expect approximately three percent lower energy use (converts to 1,400kL of crude oil/year) *³ and about six percent fewer CO2 emissions (5,700t – CO2/year) annually.
This initiative will help to achieve the “Keihin Rinkai Area Business Cooperative Energy Provision” plan, as part of the “Yokohama City Action Plan for Global Warming Countermeasures” and the “Vision For Promoting Growth Sectors.”
Going forward, Nissan will work with J-Oil Mills, Tokyo Gas, Energy Advance, and the City of Yokohama to enhance energy conservation and CO2 emission reduction efforts through various means including the use of energy across larger-scale areas and the use of cogeneration systems.
*1 Up to now there have been cases where steam emitted from the cogeneration system used in complexes in the same industry were shared between companies. However, this will be the first case in providing steam between different industries and different companies’ plant sites.
*2 The service involves having the energy service businesses to establish, own and conduct long-term maintenance of their cogeneration facilities on the customer’s site, thereby allowing electricity, steam, and other utilities to be efficiently supplied without initial investments.
*3 These reduction figures are based on the fiscal 2014 expectations. Each coefficient came from the displayed coefficients found on the Ministry of the Environment’s homepage (current as of March 2015).
