The importance of industrial heat pumps for decarbonization has gained widespread recognition. Research, development and demonstration of high-temperature heat pumps with supply of 100°C or higher are being accelerated especially in Europe. This paper introduces the technology trends of high-temperature heat pumps in Japan and overseas, and also considers future initiatives for expanding the use of industrial heat pumps in Japan.

In this paper, the authors propose an ensemble forecasting method using multiple individuals for short-time-ahead (one hour ahead) insolation forecasting by using neuro evolution (NE), in which a genetic algorithm is applied to the learning algorithm of a neural network for insolation. Although the method improves the accuracy compared to a single forecast, NE has a problem that the training time is long. In order to solve this problem, the authors propose a parallelization method of GPU processing for short-time-ahead forecasting and try to solve the problem by parallelizing the GPU.

In power system dynamic analysis, especially voltage analysis at load disconnection, it is known that the turbine generator model considering quadrature axis transient reactance Xq' (called LGT =5 in CRIEPI's Power System Analytical Tools (CPAT)) is more accurate than ignoring Xq' (called LGT =4 in CPAT). However, in power system analysis in Japan, LGT =4 seems to be used as the model for the turbine generator rather than LGT =5. It seems to be primarily because there is no significant difference between them in rotor angle stability analysis. However, it is not clear whether there is great difference between them in the analysis on the inverters trip in grid fault. In such an analysis, the change of frequency of inverters connection node is mainly important. In this paper, the impacts of Xq' of the turbine generator on the frequency change after grid fault are investigated. Through the time-domain simulations, it was found that the frequency change in grid fault of LGT =4 tend to be larger than that of LGT =5, indicating that there is a clear difference between the results of frequency analysis using LGT =4 and LGT =5.

When a constraint violation occurs due to adding a new load to distribution systems, it can be resolved by reconfiguring the distribution systems by changing the states of switches and/or by minimum necessary investment. However, it is difficult to reconfigure the distribution system while satisfying the constraints made more severe by the new load installation. To find distribution system candidates that satisfy the severe constraints, this paper proposes a constrained evolutionary multi-objective optimization algorithm (CMOEA). The proposed CMOEA utilizes a constraint-guided dominance-based and archive-based individual preservation strategy, and it efficiently finds distribution system candidates that satisfy the severe constraints. Furthermore, the proposed CMOEA achieves equalization of the number of sections, minimization of the number of remote/manual switch replacements, and suppression of the upgraded length of distribution lines. The effectiveness of the proposed CMOEA is verified by case studies using a large-scale distribution system model equipped with many manual and remote switches.

During power outages, blackout sections could be recovered early by switching the states of switchgears in distribution networks. The scale of the remaining power outage depends on the initial network configuration. Therefore, it is important to determine an initial configuration that facilitates service restoration in advance. In this paper, we propose a method to find such a configuration by solving the configuration optimization problem with the objective function of minimizing the remaining power outage. We experimentally show that both current margin and voltage margin are secured as features of the configuration to minimize the remaining power outage. Furthermore, we also show that the configuration with the minimum remaining power outage can also reduce distribution loss during normal times.

This paper proposes the application of IEC 61850 standards to manage communications for output curtailment setpoints directed at generators with non-firm connection agreements. The unique requirements of such communications include managing schedules that span two days, updating setpoints in rapid cycles, and ensuring reliability amidst communication disruptions. To address these needs, the proposal outlines the use of logical nodes for scheduling. The efficacy of the proposed specifications has been confirmed through tests conducted on a prototype system.

For the efficient lightning protection design, analysis of actual outages is essential. We estimate the strokes causing surge protection device burnout faults using two ways. One method considers the location, and the other considers the peak current. The strokes estimated by the latter method are more agree with the results of numerical calculation.

The Editorial Committee is working on planning and editing the publication of Power and Energy Society. In this article, the committee's activities of the last term are reported, and recent trends and future problems are also discussed. The process of planning and editing the publication and the challenges of reducing the necessary months for reviewing papers and increasing the number of submitted papers are shown.