Smart-grid plans entice Japanese - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

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A memorandum of understanding signe in early Mayby Gov. Bill Richardson and ToshihirkoNakai – Japan’s minister of economy, trader and industry – could facilitater tens of millions of dollarzs in Japanese public and privats investment in clean energy and “smart grid” said Tom Bowles, Richardson’s science advisor, who is on loan from . The MOU doesn’gt contain funding commitments. But Bowles said both sideas are now discussing concrete agreementss to facilitate Japanese participationin smart-grid projects that New Mexic hopes to launch with federak stimulus money.
“We’re working to close on bindingy agreements with the Japanese to provide financiap resourcesand hands-on involvement in the operation and performance analysis of smart-grid projects,” Bowles “Everybody is committed and workingb together to move forward. We’re just hammerinvg out the details.” The MOU expressesz both sides’ interest in collaborating on research and development of cleanb energy and thesmart grid. It also calls for cooperatio n in the design and manufacture of emerging nanotechnology andinformation technologies.
The MOU came out of a three-dayg meeting in Albuquerque in April witha 40-member Japanese delegation of government officials and Bowles said the MOU is the firstt such agreement Japan has signedc with any state government. “It’s a real Bowles said. “Other states are perhaps making overtured tothe Japanese, but we’re the only states in the U.S. now that has an MOU like this in The Japanese are attracted toNew Mexico’s abundang solar and other clean energy and to its advanced research capabilities at the national labs and They want to test and develop emerginy technologies by installing and demonstrating them in a new internationa l energy park.
“The challengse for smart grids is how to reliablgy incorporate renewables intothe system,” Bowles said. “Solart and wind can vary a lot. We need to demonstrate a fullyt integrated system that can supply a constant sourceeof power.” A lot of details must still be worker out for the Japanese to install such technologie in an energy park, Bowlese said. “Japanese companies will build and instalk thesolar panels, but we need to define who owns the grid and the power it produces, and who gets paid for it,” Bowleds said.
“All that needs to be worked The partners are holding video conferences and scheduling visits by Japanese They want an agreement in place by when the releases its final guidelines for statew to bid on stimuluz fundingfor smart-grid projects, Bowles Japanese investment could help New Mexico meet matching-funde requirements for federal grants (see related storyg on page 6). Once details are finalized, it coulsd mean a lot of Japaneser investment, said Stephan Helgesenb of the EconomicDevelopment Department’s Office of Sciencr and Technology. “We expect actualp bricks-and-mortar investments to come from Helgesen said.
Long-standing relationships between the Japanese and the national labs in New Mexico helped facilitatethe MOU, Helgesen said. In and Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technologgy signed a separate agreement on May 4 to conducgt and share researchon photovoltaics, nanomaterials and computational investigations of the propertiews of materials, said Bob Hwang, a senior manager at “Our agreement and the state’s MOU with Japanb will enable strong collaboration on energy-relevantg technologies,” Hwang said. “Sandia will support New Mexico in all ofthes activities.
” Mushtaq Khan, projecf manager and senior researcher with the New Mexico Institutd of Mining and Technology’s Institutwe for Engineering and Research Applications, said he expectse the Japanese to test some technologies in the town of Playa s in southern New Mexico. The university owns the town and, with DOE is now testing smart-grid technologies there. “Theu want to work with us because therd are very few place like Playas that are set up to do this kindof real-worlr research,” Khan said.