スロベニア政府団の理事長表敬
発言ポイント
Today, I am very glad to see many of my friends in Slovenia. Mr. Aleš Cantarutti, State
Secretary of the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology; Mr. Bojan
Kumer, State Secretary of the Ministry of Infrastructure; and Mr. Aleksander Mervar,
CEO of ELES, thank you all for coming to NEDO today.
Mr. Cantarutti and Mr. Kumer, I have not seen you since I met the two of you at Jable
Castle for the signing ceremony of Phase 2 last September. The ceremony held at
the beautiful historic castle was indeed unforgettable. Once again, I would like to
express my deepest appreciation for holding the ceremony for our demonstration
project when you were so busy right after the formation of the new cabinet. I met
Mr. Mervar last November in Japan also, so this is my third time to see you. I meet
CEOs all around the world, but Mr. Mervar is the only CEO I have met three times in
seven months. I am indeed pleased to see you again.
Today is the first time for me to see Mr. Andrej Ribič, CEO of Electro Ljublijana. I am
honored to meet you. I hope to foster a friendship with you like I have with Mr.
Cantarutti, Mr. Kumer, and Mr. Mervar.
The steering committee meeting you all are attending will be held later. Due to your
support, the demonstration project has been making smooth progress.
In Phase 1, the project started full-scale operation last October, and we have been
collecting demonstration data successfully up to today. Phase 1 aims to reduce the
length of power outages by 50%. This is a challenge, but I am confident that we will
achieve the target. Under the capable leadership of ELES and Hitachi, and in
cooperation with distribution companies, we will make constant efforts to attain
success by the end of December.
For Phase 2, we will have two new partners: Electro Ljublijana and Electro Primorska.
In cooperation with the two distribution companies, we will install batteries in BTC
and in the city of Idrija and also develop an advanced energy management system.
The Phase 2 demonstration will be more complicated than Phase 1 as it involves
heavy users such as municipalities and factories as well as many parties from various
fields. We all therefore need to work more closely together. I hope that all parties in
the demonstration project will fully cooperate while receiving valuable support from
two outstanding state secretaries.
In addition to the objectives I just mentioned, the project aims to widely share its
achievements to contribute to solving issues in Slovenia and other European
countries. It is our sincere hope that we can develop a practical blueprint for a next
step to disseminate project results throughout Europe under the strong leadership
of Mr. Mervar.
Now I would like to talk about the Society 5.0 forum held in Slovenia this February.
NEDO was invited to participate in the forum organized by the Japan Slovenia
Business Council. Mr. Cantarutti, Mr. Kumer, and Mr. Merva were also at the forum.
NEDO made a presentation on our demonstration project in front of the
distinguished participants. I received reports from NEDO project members and
learned that the participants, including experts in the fields of politics and finance,
had an enthusiastic discussion during the forum. I am delighted that our two
countries are deepening relations through such opportunities and NEDO is
contributing to development.
I would now like to conclude my remarks by once again expressing my gratitude for
the tremendous support we have received from all of you here. I look forward to
your continued support in order to make this project a success. Thank you for your
attention.