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  The Press Conference at Panasonic Center Tokyo Held on October 1, 2012

Panasonic Corporation, as the primary party in the land readjustment project, has gained approval to go ahead with construction of the Fujisawa Sustainable Smart Town (Fujisawa SST), a pioneering smart city project which has been planned with Fujisawa City and eleven other partner companies, and infrastructure development for the project was started in September 2012.

Here's an exclusive report on the press conference on October 1, 2012, by our reporter, Cathy.

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  Satoshi Takeyasu, Senior Managing Officer, Director, Comprehensive Solutions Division, Eco Solutions Company in Panasonic Corporation 。

Working with Fujisawa City and its partner companies, Accenture, Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd., Mitsui Fudosan Residential Co., Ltd., Mitsui & Co., Ltd., Nihon Sekkei Inc., ORIX Corporation, PanaHome Corporation, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, Limited, Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd., and with the recent addition of Dentsu Inc. and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone East Corporation, Panasonic aims to open the Fujisawa SST in spring 2014 and create a smart town through the concerted efforts of the local government, businesses and local residents. The Fujisawa SST which has drawn attention from around the world after the announcement of the business concept last May, will serve as a model for the development of similar projects both within Japan and overseas.

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  Fujisawa Model Image

1. Independent and Symbiotic Energy Management
In the Fujisawa SST, all detached housing will be equipped with solar modules and storage batteries. In due course, consideration will be given to expanding the concept beyond individual houses that are independent in energy terms to groups of such buildings and, eventually, to the entire area. In the approximately 19 hectare town, solar power generation systems will be installed in residential areas and in public facilities and land, maximizing the utilization of renewable energy in the town, and making the whole town itself the largest individual distributed system in the world(*1), with a total of approximately 3 MW of solar modules and 3 MW of storage batterie(*2).

2. Virtual Gated Town
Security systems, including cameras and sensor-equipped streets lights, will for the first time in Japan1 be introduced on a large scale into every area of the town, such as at the entrance and exits to the town, in public buildings, in parks and at major crossroads. Residents will be protected 24 hours a day, 365 days a year by this invisible gate, maintaining the security and safety in the town. In addition, the street lights will be lit up in times of emergency, such as power shortages.

3. Total Eco-Mobility Service
By offering sharing services for electric cars, EV bikes and electric assist bicycles, home delivery rent-a-car services, and battery stations where charged batteries can be rented, will offer more freedom and comfort in mobility for the residents. In addition, this will be the first practical realization of a battery sharing system for EV bikes and other vehicles in Japan(*1).