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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 2731

Mitsubishi Electric Develops Energy Management System with Demand-response Capability

Stabilizes power supply & demand management while minimizing electricity costs

TOKYO, February 14, 2013 - Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (TOKYO: 6503) announced today that it has developed the technology for an energy management system (EMS) that responds dynamically to supply-demand conditions. The system automatically evaluates fluctuating power-generation costs and electricity-market prices to determine optimized incentives for saving power, thereby helping to stabilize supply and demand management while minimizing costs and benefits for utilities and customers alike. The technology was achieved through the company's Smart Grid Demonstration Project initiative.
To help decrease power consumption during times of peak demand, power utilities have been widely implementing demand-response schemes that offer incentives to customers in exchange for their curtailed use of power. However, conventional demand-response schemes only offer the same fixed incentives to all customers, which can result either insufficient or excessive power savings depending on the conditions.

Key Technologies
1) Power savings tailored to each user depending on capacity to curtail power usage
Customers consuming large amounts, such as operators of buildings or factories, report their power saving capacities depending on the time of day, and desired incentives to utilities. Mitsubishi Electric's EMS aggregates this information and predicts total power-curtailment capacities and incentives. The system then calculates the distribution of optimized power-saving requirements and incentives for individual users. As a result, utilities can avoid burdening society with either insufficient power supply or excessive requests for power savings.
2) Optimized incentives reflecting power-generation costs and electricity-market prices
EMS calculates optimized incentives by taking into account fluctuating power-generation costs, market prices and the power-saving capability of each customer. EMS also calculates optimal power generation volume, electricity transactions and power savings to achieve maximum power savings and cost reductions for both utility supply and customer usage. Additionally, EMS achieves benefits not only during periods of peak demand, but also during periods of excessive power supply.
3) Lower power-supply costs through minimized installation of electrical facilities
EMS helps avoid the construction of costly and unnecessary power-generation and -transmission facilities in electrical systems that would otherwise be required for power generation and distribution during periods of peak demand.


Mitsubishi Electric's newly developed technology vs. conventional systems
Function Performance
EMS with demand-response Optimized incentives reflecting fluctuating power generation costs and market prices. Incentives for utilities and customers, and benefits during periods of peak demand and excess supply.
Conventional Fixed, uniform incentives for all customers by contract. Possibility of unstable demand management because incentives are not optimized.


Pending patents for the technology announced in this news release number four in Japan.

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Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
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Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
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