OHMORI CORPORATION
Progress on wind power generation is happening at various locations around Japan in an effort to create a sustainable society. One place where such work is underway is in Akita Prefecture where the wind blows strongly all year round. The Kazenomatsubara Wind Power Station located at Noshiro City in the northwest of the prefecture currently operates 17 turbines. Hitachi Power Solutions has been involved with this wind farm since the initial business planning stage, providing total support encompassing surveying the surrounding area, building a relationship with the local community, finance, equipment maintenance, and the training of maintenance staff. We have supplied extensive experience and advanced technical capabilities to serve as a partner to work with the plant operator to ensure that their strong commitment to creating and sustaining local business is carried forward into the future.
Headquartered in Noshiro City, Akita Prefecture, OHMORI CORPORATION is a company with deep local roots now approaching its third quarter-century. Its motto is “love for our hometown and dedication to the community”. The company started planning for its wind power business in 2011 out of a desire to help create a sustainable society and foster local industry. Its choice of business partner at this time was Hitachi Power Solutions, a company that it had first dealt with in 2000 when contracted to build foundations for a wind farm construction project. Looking back over why they wanted to get into the wind power business and the deciding factors behind their choice of Hitachi Power Solutions, Senior Managing Director Mr. Hiromasa Ohmori who led the project said the following.
“The wind in Noshiro City is very strong. While we used to think of the wind as an irritation, after meeting Hitachi Power Solutions and talking to them about it, I saw the opportunity to use wind power to benefit the community by transforming this wind into clean energy. Our expertise lies in construction, however, and we lacked knowledge of power generation and electricity, not to mention the maintenance know-how needed to keep wind turbines running reliably. What we needed was a business partner that could offer all-round support.
This led me to look favorably on Hitachi Power Solutions, which not only has technical capabilities built up over many years, but also provides attentive service, being available for consultation right from the early engineering and procurement phases of construction. They also shared our philosophy of local development and left me confident that they would be able to stick with us and keep the business operating over many decades.”
This was the beginning of a wind power business utilizing local wind and local capital that could give back to the community, which is to say, a practical realization of their ideal of “love for our hometown and dedication to the community”. One demonstration of this attitude is the community fund. As Mr. Ohmori commented, “When we established a fund limited to Noshiro City residents and asked for contributions, we received responses from many more people than expected, giving us a strong sense of people’s approval and faith in the wind turbines. Hearing people talk about how they can relate to the turbines and see them as their own made me appreciate how deeply rooted in the community they had become.” Being able to help the wind farm operator and community create a future together is a great delight to Hitachi Power Solutions and a source of motivation.
