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FOLENS Seminar October 2012: Field Trip to Kurobe"
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| Kawakami Mini Hydropower Station | Looking inside the Omachi dam | Water discharged from Kurobe dam |
On 11-12 October, we had a field trip together with IEAS to Nagano prefecture. The purpose of the trip was to learn history, system, potential and constraint condition of hydropower development in Nagano prefecture as well as to enjoy the beautiful nature.
On the first day, “NPO community development factory” introduced mini hydropower projects and showed us two sites; “Kawakami Mini Hydropower Station” and “Komazawa Mini Hydropower Station”. We could see how to generate electricity with natural resource in the community in micro scale. In the afternoon of the first day, we visited Nanakura dam, rock-fill dam, and Omachi dam, concrete gravity dam. At Nanakura, we climbed up 200 steps to feel the great scale of the dam. At Omachi, with the kind cooperation from Omachi dam management office, we could explore inside the dam and dam gate control room to deepen our understanding of the role that dam plays. In the morning of the second day, we visited the oldest hydropower facility in Japan, Miyashiro Daiichi Power Station. Chubu electric company kindly introduced us inside the station to see the oldest generator in Japan, imported from Germany 107 years ago. We could learn the mechanism of hydropower generation and felt the long history of it. Lastly, we visited one of the largest dams in Japan, Kurobe dam. We experienced the large scale arch type concrete dam and the beautiful harmony with the nature.
This time, we have visited several hydropower stations and could get to know one aspect of energy issues in Japan.