AN OUTLINE OF POWER-SYSTEM TECHNOLOGIES IN JAPAN

Metropolitan areas such as Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya are major consumers of electricity in Japan. As the construction of power plants near the se areas has become more difficult in recent years, there is a tendenc y for large-scale power plants to be constructed in remote locations. The construction of transmission lines and substations is also becomin g more difficult, so that power is being transmitted by fewer lines ov er long distances. Consequently, the stability of the power system is a very important problem, and numerous stabilizing technologies are th erefore being used. With this as a background, the author focuses on t he main stabilizing technologies applied in the Japanese power system and outlines them in this paper.