Hourly Emission Factors of Japan's 10 Powergrid Is Now Available

The SCOPE 2 guidance to be updated will require companies to calculate their CO2 emissions associated with electricity consumption in a more detailed manner, by increasing the granularity of carbon intensity data on an hourly basis within the location-based accounting framework.

This is part of the GHG Protocol's SCOPE 2 guidance enhancements, necessitating businesses to compute their carbon emissions due to electricity usage across different transmission and distribution networks on a finer time scale. The intent behind this change is to allow companies to better understand and mitigate their environmental impact by having more accurate data.

The necessity for such revisions arises from the significant fluctuations in the ratio of renewable energy throughout the day. During daylight, the carbon intensity decreases with higher solar power generation, while at night, reliance on fossil fuels increases the carbon intensity. This discrepancy between day and night times can lead to inaccuracies in a company's carbon footprint assessment and reduction strategies. Moreover, the use of general annual average emission factors has been criticized for underestimating the actual environmental impact. To address these issues, a provision of more detailed time-of-use carbon intensity data is deemed essential.

In the Uniated States, the California Independent System Operator (CAISO), responsible for operating the state's power grid, is focusing on tracking the fluctuations in power supply throughout different times of the day and supporting the integration of renewable energy. A new tool has been developed that assesses the carbon intensity of electricity consumption in specific time slots, facilitating the purchase of cleaner power by tracking the carbon emission factors that vary by region and time in real time. This tool is aiding power consumers and large corporations in accurately evaluating and reducing their carbon footprint.

In Japan, although transparency regarding the CO2 emission factors of the power grid is increasing, the publication of time-of-use carbon intensity, similar to the examples in California and Europe, is not yet available.

Japanese power grid companies do publish time-of-use generation by source, but without detailed data on power plants or system interconnections, it is challenging for consumers to choose electricity based on carbon emissions.

Therefore, D-Sharing, with its patented technologies and solutions applicable in Japan, provides the alternative data-set to the stakeholders. Please contact us.