連載：エネルギー・ニューパラダイム　第4回：エネルギー産業「新結合」の過去と将来

─産業特性に関する経験的分析からの洞察─

抄録

Preventing global warming is the biggest challenge we face. Due to the deadlock of nuclear developments, our key issues are to lessen the share of fossil fuels, which will continue to play a major role yet, and to promote energy conservation and renewable energies. The incumbent energy, industries have various characteristics which consist of social responsibility, specific industrial capabilities, logistics, and overall systematizations. With these characteristics, they used to tackle essential issues and develop “New Combinations”.

But, for the recent 50 years, due to the market instabilities and energy prices’ fluctuations, consistency to tackle essential issues have been deteriorated, and therefore, forces to develop “ New Combinations” have been weakened.

The empirical analysis of energy industries indicates that dispersed and unstable renewable energies such as wind power and photovoltaic are positioned on the opposite side of incumbent energy industries in terms of industry characteristics, and therefore, integrating these renewable energies into the incumbents’ transmission systems will nothing but disturbing an opportunity to create “ New Combinations”.

Without being shaken up by the market instabilities and energy prices’ fluctuations, the renewable energies industry should integrate themselves with batteries and energy conservation systems and create “New Combinations”.