Event

The J-WAVE radio program ENEOS FOR OUR EARTH -ONE BY ONE-, which was focusing on renewable energy in October and November, chose to interview JRE for one of their segments.
JRE President Kazuhiro Takeuchi appeared on this program on October 22 and 29. In amicable talks with host Akane Hotta, Takeuchi spoke about the current situation of the renewable energy market in Japan, JRE’s activities, its future prospects, and other related matters.
On this radio program on November 12 and 19, a college student will report on JRE and its power plant after visiting the plant. For this reason, the student and some J-WAVE staff members visited JRE Kamisu Biomass Power Plant on October 25.
The student first attended a lecture on the current situation and issues of renewable energy, JRE Group’s activities, how biomass power generation works, and Kamisu Biomass Power Plant, and then they had a look at plant staff members controlling power generation in the central control room. After going outside, the plant staff gave explanations as the student learned about the process of generating power using woody fuels while actually touching and smelling several types of wood chips, observing a truck delivering wood chips that had just arrived being weighed, looking into the boiler from the outside, among other experiences. They seemed to be surprised by the fact that sustainable power covering all the households in Kamisu City is generated by a power plant with site the size of two soccer fields.
You can listen to the radio program on J-WAVE’s site after it is broadcasted.

Kiyoshi Doi, JRE Managing Executive Officer, and Yasuyuki Kaneko, Vice-president of JRE Operations Corporation, participated in Japan Wind Energy 2022, an international event, held at Shin Yokohama Prince Hotel on October 11 and 12.
Doi took the platform of the panel discussion, Looking Ahead to 2030The Roadmap of Japan Wind Energy, held on the first day of this event. Along with several global companies who are leading the industry, Doi led the discussion from the viewpoint of a business operator who knows the Japanese market well during a session of discussing the prospects of the wind power generation market in Japan.
Kaneko took the platform of the panel discussion, Optimize the Operation and Performance of Wind Farm Portfolios in Japan, held on the second day of this event. From the viewpoint of an operator who operates power farms, Kaneko discussed measures for maximizing the operating efficiency of a wind power farm.

A tour of a wind turbine construction site was provided to the upper elementary students of Niwatsuka Elementary School near the wind farm. Seventy people including the students, teachers, and staff members of the school took part in this tour.
The weather was fine on the day of the tour. Our staff explained how wind power generation works and other matters to them at the base of Unit 8, and then the participants observed some blades placed temporarily inside the tower, special vehicles used to transport wind turbine parts, and other materials.
After taking commemorative photographs in front of the wind turbine, the students gave us their impressions. We received comments such as “The blades were longer than I thought. I was surprised,” “I was glad to be able to touch real blades,” “I got curious about wind turbines ever since I noticed them being built on the hill. I am glad I got to see them up close."
JRE will continue to hold similar events such as explanation meetings and plant tours for local people to operate regionally oriented wind power farms that the local communities can be fond of.

JRE exhibited its booth at the Environmental Fair Tsuruoka 2022 hosted by the government of Tsuruoka City where the JRE Tsuruoka Hachimoriyama Wind Farm is located.
At this booth, we held various activities, for example, we talked about the JRE Group and JRE Tsuruoka Hachimoriyama Wind Farm, exhibited panels showing community contribution activities the JRE Group companies are carrying out in various places, showed a movie of the construction of the JRE Tsuruoka Hachimoriyama Wind Farm, and distributed pinwheels bearing JRE’s logo.
The visitors gave us various opinions and supporting messages concerning JRE’s wind power generation business. The pinwheel making sessions were particularly popular among children.
We were reminded how important it is to participate in local events at which we can hear local people’s opinions about renewable energy and wind power generation first hand.

As a part of the study/learning program “Period for Inquiry-Based Cross-Disciplinary Study” conducted at high schools across the country, JRE held a plant tour at Oritsumedake South 1 Wind Farm (under construction) for the municipal employees of Kuji City, Iwate Prefecture, and the students of Iwate Prefectural Kuji High School to give them have a chance to deepen their knowledge of renewable energy.
On the same day, a JRE staff member gave a lecture on renewable energy including offshore and onshore wind power generation. The students of Kuji High School listened to the lecturer attentively and took thorough notes.
fter the lecture, they moved to the power plant to observe multiple wind turbines guided by a person from Shimizu Corporation who is constructing the power plant. The interest that the participants showed in the wind turbines under construction, which is indeed a rare sight, and their first ever up-close view of wind turbines left an impression on us. One of the students said, “I want to get a job related to renewable energy in the future for Kuji City and Japan,” which indicates this event was a good opportunity to get familiar with renewable energy.
JRE will continue to pay attention to its connection with local communities and our mutual prosperity and make efforts to be an operator accepted by the local people.

In Kunohe-mura, Iwate Prefecture, the JRE Oritsumedake South 1 Wind Farm is under construction. At the request of the Kunohe-mura educational board, we held events for elementary school children. On August 26, our staff members first explained to the children from the 5th and 6th grades the mechanism of wind power generation during a science lesson, and then took the children to the wind farm. On the next day, we held an event in which children could make pinwheels and then tour the wind power plant. The event had 59 participants in total, including 41 children from the 1st to 6th grades, as well as their parents.
On August 27, firstly our staff members explained wind power generation using quizzes, and then the children began creating pinwheels by hand, making the blades out of plastic bottles. The completed pinwheel power generators were rotated by the wind, lighting LED lamps. It took some of the children a little time to finish their task, but they all were overjoyed after painting each pinwheel with their own original color patterns, making each model unique. Our staff members who helped the children were also relieved that things went well.
After that, the children together with their parents visited the construction site to see the wind turbines close up. Shimizu Corporation, the contractor, held a demonstration during the plant tour in which a wind turbine in trial operation was spun. The tour members cheered when the blades started to turn.
In the Q&A session, the parents had as many questions to ask as the children did, which made us realize that the community is greatly interested in our project.
JRE will continue to make efforts to construct wind power farms that the local community can be fond of, including events like these so that people may feel more at home with wind power generation.

Students at Showa Women's University who are studying the SDGs and ESG visited JRE to experience a two-day program of learning renewable energy.
On the first day at JRE's Tokyo Head Office, these students received lectures on subjects such as: the environment that surrounds Japan's renewable energy industry; the types and characteristics of renewable energy power sources; and communicating with people in communities where power generation plants are developed and operated. On the second day, the students visited the JRE Kamisu Biomass Power Plant in Ibaraki Prefecture, where the operating staff themselves explained various activities at the power plant worksites to the students.
The comments we received from the participants included, "Although we use electricity casually every day, we had never imagined this profound area that we learned about today concerning the efforts and technologies that support the mechanism of renewable energy." Another comment was, "Now we know that JRE's operations greatly prioritize gaining the understanding of local people."
JRE continues to promote the understanding of renewable energy by providing a variety of opportunities to learn about this area.

JRE held a workshop on making pinwheels out of plastic bottles at Kitakyushu Eco-Town Center. In spite of scorching temperatures exceeding 35°C, all 25 places at the workplace were filled by people from nine families, who made pinwheels not only out of plastic bottles, but also using pop candies. The participants also took part in a photo session in which pictures were taken of the completed pinwheels, and enjoyed other activities.
Here and there, joyful voices could be heard saying things like "My pinwheel turns faster than yours, Mom! This is fun! Let's make them ourselves at home, too!" Everyone was excited.
After they enjoyed the workshop, we guided the participants to see a real wind turbine at our wind power station in the Hibikinada area. Not only the children but their parents too cheered at the hugely impressive wind turbine they could see at close range, and asked us various questions about wind turbines.
JRE will actively hold similar events in the future to deepen its interactions with local people and further stimulate renewable energy activities, starting in local areas.

JRE held the first Global Wind Day event in a few years, after the COVID-19 pandemic began, in Sakata City and Tsuruoka City, Yamagata Prefecture, welcoming 36 residents from these two cities. Plant tours were held at the following three locations: JRE Tsuruoka Hachimoriyama Wind Farm, which started operation last November; JRE Sakata Wind Farm, at which reconstruction will start next March; and Sakata Port Mega Solar Park, which is located near JRE Sakata Wind Farm.
Before the plant tours, JRE staff gave a lecture on the mechanism of wind power generation, explained the work of the wind farm's staff, and held a workshop on making models from plastic bottles. This all took place at the Sakata City General Cultural Center. In particular, the handiwork workshop was popular among participants of all ages.
During the plant tours, the participants asked various questions about the power generation business and plant operation, showing us that the participants had great interest in the wind power generation project.
Before leaving, the participants made many comments such as "That was fun!" and "It was a worthwhile session." We were able to reconfirm the importance of providing the residents of communities around power plants with the opportunity to see the facilities directly.

Baseball is popular in Noshiro City, Akita Prefecture. We organized a baseball clinic in the city and about 70 elementary school children attended the event. Hisashi Iwakuma, Special Assignment Coach of the Seattle Mariners; Toku-san & Raipachi, YouTubers from a baseball YouTube channel “Toku-san TV”; Nicchiro, an impersonator; and Teppei Yoda, a representative of BASEBALL FUTURE were invited to the baseball clinic as guest instructors. They taught the children not only baseball skills but also the importance of exercises, warm-ups, and playing catch, as well as the “baseball attitude.” The children looked very excited to actually meet the people they could only see on the screen and to be able to receive guidance from them. The children gave positive feedback such as “I had so much fun.” and “They taught me authentic baseball techniques, so I love playing baseball even more now.” We hope the children will have fond memories of the event.
JRE is committed to creating opportunities to give back to the community.

Eight members of staff from the JRE Group participated in roadside ditch cleaning in Kami City, Kochi Prefecture. Early in the morning, they started to clean the roadside ditch on the mountain road leading to the JRE Kochi Kami Solar Power Plant.
The staff shoveled the fallen leaves and mud stuck in the ditch while learning how to use the equipment from local residents. Then, they loaded the leaves and mud onto wheelbarrows and carried them to a refuse collection site. They repeated the process for about two hours. When the cleaning was completed, water began to flow downstream, giving the staff a sense of achievement. The environment and water were so clean that they even found some river crabs in the ditch. They also had an enjoyable time with the local people, who talked about mountains and the effects of rainfall and served tea for the staff.
They had a tour of the power plant after the cleaning and gained a deeper understanding of their work.
The JRE Group intends to continue to work with the local people to engage in activities that contribute to the local community and lead to nature conservation.

Seven JRE employees helped out at the Moso Festival in Sanze, Tsuruoka City.
On the day before the Festival we helped out to peel bamboo shoots for preparing mosojiru soup, a local specialty, with the advice and assistance of local residents.
The day of the festival was blessed with excellent weather. We experienced a satoyama (village forest) walking before joining in the festivities. We all had a wonderful day looking at the JRE Tsuruoka Hachimoriyama Wind Farm and enjoying mosojiru soup and mosogohan rice with very special feelings. It was a meaningful time for us, as we received a warm welcome from all, and have a relationship with the local community from the preparations stage.

Four JRE employees participated in a community cleanup activity near the JRE Himeji Solar Power Plant.
The annual event normally involves cleaning out gutters, but this year we were also pruning and tidying up trees around people's homes. We worked together with community residents, utilizing a vehicle for high lift work to access the higher branches. A small truck was used to collect branches that had been pruned back. We lost count of how many trips it made!
As a result of all hard work, roads and houses that had been in shade due to rampant overgrowth are now bathed in sunlight, and the area feels bright and clear again.
The residents were very pleased to have us there, and for us it was a wonderful opportunity to deepen relationship with them.

The Examination Center for Electrical Engineers (ECEE) is a general foundational juridical person responsible for administering exams for national qualifications, such as the licensed electrical engineer exam. A recent discussion session held by the ECEE in March was attended by Yasuyuki Kaneko, Operation Chief Director of JRE Operations Corporation, a JRE group company, on behalf of the renewable energy sector. In this session titled ”The global push towards electrification and how Japan is training electrical engineers,” he discussed the expectations with respect to electrical engineers from a business perspective. The discussion session was significant in helping to promote better understanding among the key players in different industries.

Details of the event are available on the following page (Japanese only):

https://www.shiken.or.jp/engineer/index.html