Furukawa Electric Establishes Smart Grid Business Development Department

Yokohama Works, a hub of new Smart Grid business

In recent years, every country around the world is promoting the development of Smart Grid technology, aiming for an environmentally friendly society where sustainable development is possible. Smart Grid technology utilizes IT technology to gather information of distributed generation, such as solar power, and information of demand, and transmits high-efficiency, high-quality, highly reliable power and information bi-directionally. By developing this technology, we plan to nurture the new environmental business, which is one of the goals of our medium-term management plan, New Frontier 2010.

Furukawa Electric has been developing  Smart Grid related technologies over many years including superconductivity, cables for power supply and distribution, power equipment, power storage systems, optical transport systems, network equipment and automotive components, so we are perfectly positioned to start up a new Smart Grid business. However, since these technologies have been developed vertically by the companies, research departments and Group affiliated companies, they have not been organically connected. On that account, we are promoting the new business across the entire company, including Group companies, creating an organization that is under the direct control of the president and centralizing the point of contact for external inquiries.

We are participating in the NEDO verification tests, which are currently underway in the state of New Mexico in the United States. We are also collecting information, analyzing and implementing proposals for purposes of participating in the planning for national projects underway around the world.