Toshiba Corp. has been granted the contract to develop a solar power generation project for Tokyo Electric Power Co. Inc. The contract calls for Toshiba’s systems to be installed in a Kawasaki, Kanagawa prefecture plant that will generate about 7MW capacity. This is the second win that Toshiba has secured for a multi-MW photovoltaic (PV) project. The first was for a 7.5MW capacity multi-MW PV project at Taketoyo Thermal Power Station in Taketoyo, Aichi prefecture as announced in August 2009.

Provisionally called the Ukishima Solar Power Plant, the facility is located in the Waterfront District in Kawasaki, Kanagawa prefecture. The annual capacity of plant will be about 74.00 lakh kilowatt hours, enough electricity to supply approximately 2,000 households. The plant will be the first solar power generator operated by TEPCO and is scheduled to start operation in fiscal year 2011.

Toshiba was selected as prime contractor for development of the plant, and will be responsible for all engineering work prior to the start of construction, procurement of major equipment and components, and plant construction. The variable output of the PV cells will be converted to clean AC by integrated power conditioners developed by Toshiba Group. Their conversion efficiency of 97.5 per cent places them in the world’s highest class of power conditioners. The plant will also be equipped with solar panels from Sharp Corp. that feature polycrystalline PV modules.

Driven by a growing awareness of the need to counteract global warming, the global solar PV systems market for utilities and industrial plants is expected to reach $24.67 million (Rs.115.31 crore) in fiscal year 2015. In this market environment, Toshiba made its full-scale entry into the solar PV systems business on January 1, when its Transmission Distribution & Industrial Systems Company established the PV Systems Division as one its measures to accelerate expansion of the PV system business. This in-house company is charged with drawing on its extensive experience in system integration, particularly in system technology for high efficiency PV inverters and microgrids and in deploying large plant system engineering capabilities, to promote the growth of the PV systems business.

Toshiba Group will aim to secure further contracts for multi-MW PV projects and to achieve a rapid expansion of the business, both in Japan and overseas, by focusing on renewable energy and energy-saving products and technologies.
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Seeking to better enable Philippine programmers to develop software to penetrate world markets, IBM Corp. formally opened recently its IBM Innovation Center at the UP-Ayala Technopark in Diliman, Quezon City; it is Big Blue’s 40th globally and third in Southeast Asia.

At the press briefing inside the UP-Ayala Technopark compound, top IBM Corp. officials led by its General Manager for independent Software Vendors and Developer Relations James Corgel told reporters that the site would primarily be a testing center for Philippine-based developers to test their programs to determine if they were world class enough technically and could therefore be marketed abroad.

The tests would be done with the aid of IBM technical experts and computers and other IT equipment that ran the programs under various operating conditions expected if used worldwide. The developers would be registered as IBM business partners with varied terms for partnership agreements even as the testing would be free.

Corgel told reporters that opening of the center was the natural consequence of the Philippines having achieved a solid reputation globally as a provider of BPO services. IBM would now help the country achieve one-step higher the value chain by offering customers abroad quality software.

Corgel added that the IBM Innovation Center would open its doors to all kinds of developers in the Philippines, including technically savvy teenagers with innovative ideas for new computer programs. As such, they would first have to be accredited as IBM business partners, but this could be done even online.

In a brief interview with The Manila Times shortly before the briefing, IBM Philippines country leader for ISV and developer relations, Iris Hester Tan Chiu, said many small information technology enterprises in the Philippines had complained about the lack of sufficient testing facilities in the country to assure the quality of their computer programs. Thus, the need for facilities such as the IBM Innovation Center.

Meanwhile, information contained in press kits furnished to reporters said the center would enable development of world-class software in several sectors such as banking, energy, telecommunications, transportation, retail and government.

Corgel explained that there would be different degrees of arrangements of terms with IBM Corp. A check by The Times of the innovation center’s Website showed the highest level would involve joint marketing strategies.

The intermediate level would involve enhanced marketing and training support while the basic level would mean information and enablement tools for the partner.

Corgel said the IBM Innovation Center in the Philippines formed part of the US $2.5 billion IBM Corp. had invested worldwide since 1989 in the formation of such centers.

At the briefing, Corgel said that Big Blue had signed up 250 business partners for its innovation center at a recent event at the Asian Institute of Management and said they were young as well as innovative.
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Ceravision Ltd and Toshiba Electronics have teamed up to accelerate development of advanced magnetrons for lighting applications.

“This programme will allow us to further develop the efficiency of our technology,” said Tim Reynolds, Ceravision’s CEO. “This partnership will allow us to extend our system advantages, while further increasing the amount of energy our products save.”

In November, Ceravision planned to release its first product family incorporating all the benefits of high efficiency plasma. These include power savings of up to 67 per cent, reduction in the number of fittings of up to 50 per cent, extended lifetimes and increased intelligent lighting controls. Named the Alvara range, the first product will be the Alvara 400, which has been designed to replace existing 400W products. Other products for sectors such as street lighting are due to follow shortly afterwards.
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