JP7794709B2 - Supply chain renewable energy procurement support device and supply chain renewable energy procurement support method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a supply chain renewable energy procurement support device and a supply chain renewable energy procurement support method, and in particular to a supply chain renewable energy procurement support device and a supply chain renewable energy procurement support method that are suitable for enabling all companies that make up a supply chain to procure renewable energy as a measure against global warming.

In recent years, there has been international concern about the exacerbating effects of disasters caused by _CO2 acting as a greenhouse gas in the global environment, and in Japan, both the public and private sectors have responded by working towards a so-called decarbonized society. Companies are also increasingly moving towards using 100% so-called "green" renewable energy (hereinafter simply referred to as "renewable energy"), such as RE100 (Renewable Energy 100%), to provide products and services.

As such, current methods for companies to procure renewable energy for the manufacture of products or provision of services include installing green power generation equipment in-house, purchasing green power itself, or purchasing environmental certificates such as non-fossil certificates or J-Credits. Here, green power refers to electricity generated by renewable energy sources.

A device that uses an information processing device to support renewable energy procurement is disclosed in Patent Document 1, for example. The device described in Patent Document 1, which determines the amount of environmental certificates to purchase, determines the target reduction amount, certainty reduction amount (reduction amount from solar power generated on the company's premises), and uncertainty reduction amount (reduction amount from solar power generated outside the company) for each target year up to the target year based on the company's greenhouse gas reduction target, in accordance with a predetermined algorithm, and then calculates the amount of environmental value certificates to purchase for each target year necessary to achieve the target.

Patent No. 7021388

The renewable energy procurement support device described in Patent Document 1 above supports companies in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

However, in reality, many products are made by combining a large number of raw materials and parts purchased from other companies, and as a result, a supply chain exists that covers the entire process from product development to delivery to the consumer, including the procurement of raw materials for the product, production and processing, inventory management, distribution, sales, and the logistics involved in each process.

For this reason, unless all manufacturers participating in the supply chain for raw materials and parts procurement make their products RE100, the entire supply chain will not achieve RE100 products in the true sense of the word. Even if a company simply purchases an environmental certificate to reduce its own greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with the device described in Patent Document 1, it will not be able to achieve the RE100 product target, including the raw materials and parts that make up the product.

Furthermore, when parts suppliers are small or medium-sized enterprises, even if they are required to go RE100, it is often not realistic for them to install their own power generation facilities and procure the renewable energy needed for RE100, due to factors such as limited financial resources or limited land area that does not allow for large-scale power generation facilities. Furthermore, if renewable energy is procured through the purchase of certificates, the purchase costs will be added to the cost of manufacturing the product. For parts manufacturers whose products are supplied to multiple manufacturers, it is difficult to deal with the reality that some customers will buy RE100 parts even if they are expensive, while others want cheaper products that are not RE100.

Furthermore, with regard to the method of purchasing renewable energy, the current Corporate Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) contracts for purchasing green electricity from mega solar operators and the like involve the purchase of a fairly large amount of electricity over a fairly long period of time, which poses the challenge of making it difficult for small and medium-sized enterprises to purchase only the amount of electricity needed to manufacture products for customers who purchase RE100 parts, even if the price is high.

On the other hand, environmental certificates can be purchased in small quantities, but their prices fluctuate wildly and tend to be more expensive when purchased in small quantities, making it difficult to predict the impact on product manufacturing costs and placing a significant burden on budget and cost management.

In the end, even if a manufacturer aims to make its products 100% RE, if the parts procurement supply chain is made up of small and medium-sized manufacturers, the effort and difficulty of cost management specific to renewable energy procurement may prevent cooperation from the parts manufacturers, making it difficult to provide 100% RE products. Conversely, large companies that want to make their own products 100% RE could force weaker SMEs in their supply chains to do the same, forcing them to bear the effort and cost burden of renewable energy procurement.

The object of the present invention is to provide a supply chain renewable energy procurement support device and supply chain renewable energy procurement support method that can procure the necessary renewable energy throughout the supply chain, achieving RE100 without excess or deficiency, at low cost, and without imposing a burden on individual small and medium-sized enterprises that are suppliers.

The supply chain renewable energy procurement support device of the present invention is preferably configured as a supply chain renewable energy procurement support device for procuring renewable energy to achieve a 100% renewable energy usage rate (RE100) throughout the entire supply chain in product production, and stores supply chain definition data that defines the supply chain relationships in product manufacturing and whether each supplier can manufacture the product using renewable energy, as well as actual energy consumption data for product final assemblers and each supplier where the renewable energy usage rate is not 100% based on past manufacturing performance. Based on the supply chain definition data and actual energy consumption data, the device predicts energy consumption for product final assemblers and each supplier where the renewable energy usage rate is not 100% based on past manufacturing performance, and creates a renewable energy procurement plan that determines the timing and type of renewable energy purchases based on the predicted energy consumption for product final assemblers and each supplier where the renewable energy usage rate is not 100% based on past manufacturing performance.

The present invention provides a supply chain renewable energy procurement support device and a supply chain renewable energy procurement support method that can procure the necessary renewable energy throughout the supply chain, achieving RE100 without excess or deficiency, at low cost, and without imposing a burden on individual small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) that are suppliers.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of a supply chain renewable energy procurement support system. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the hardware and software configuration of a supply chain renewable energy procurement device. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a supply chain model. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of supply chain definition data. 10 is a graph showing predicted monthly energy consumption values of a long-term contract supplier, Company G. 10 is a graph showing monthly predicted energy consumption values of short-term contract supplier H. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of energy consumption prediction data (part 1); FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of energy consumption prediction data (part 2); FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating the relationship between the predicted energy consumption of each supplier and arranger and the amount of green electricity procured. This is a diagram explaining the relationship between the predicted energy consumption of each supplier and arranger and the amount of renewable energy procured by the arranger. This is a diagram explaining the relationship between the amount of renewable energy procured by the arranger, the amount of green electricity procured, and the amount of renewable energy procured under the environmental certificate procured by the arranger. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the relationship between the purchase amount and purchase timing of environmental certificates and market forecasts. 10 is a flowchart showing a series of processes for creating a renewable energy procurement plan for the next fiscal year. 10 is a flowchart showing a process for determining a green electricity purchase price. 10 is a flowchart showing details of a process for creating an environmental certificate plan. 10 is a flowchart showing a renewable energy procurement and renewable energy procurement adjustment process. 10 is a flowchart showing details of the renewable energy procurement adjustment process.

One embodiment of the present invention will be described below using Figures 1 to 13.

First, an overview and premise of the supply chain renewable energy procurement support system of this embodiment will be described.
In this embodiment, a company that arranges the procurement of renewable energy throughout the entire supply chain with the aim of making its own products RE100 is referred to as an "arranger" (final assembler of the product), and a company upstream in the supply chain that supplies the arranger with the parts, materials, etc. necessary for manufacturing the product is referred to as a "supplier." The arranger then requests each supplier, moving up the chain in turn, to make the parts and raw materials delivered to the arranger RE100, picking out suppliers that cannot fulfill the request on their own, and using the supply chain renewable energy procurement support device to create a renewable energy purchasing plan for the raw materials and parts supplied to the arranger by those companies, so that the arranger can procure the renewable energy necessary for RE100, including the arranger's own supply.

The renewable energy purchasing plan created in this embodiment is an annual schedule that determines which, when, and how much of a number of renewable energy products to purchase each fiscal year.

Specifically, current methods for procuring renewable energy include direct purchases of green power, such as corporate power purchase agreements (PPAs), and environmental certificates, such as J-Credits, non-fossil fuel certificates, and green power certificates, which purchase only environmental value. While direct purchases of green power allow for stable and relatively low-cost purchases of renewable energy, contracts are typically long-term, typically five years or more, and are typically fixed-price agreements. This requires companies to develop long-term production plans and makes it difficult to respond to sudden fluctuations in demand. While environmental certificates can generally be purchased at any time and in any quantity, actual purchases must take into account the large fluctuations in market quantities and prices. Furthermore, non-fossil fuel certificates have expiration dates (they are invalid if not used within the fiscal year). Therefore, purchasing non-fossil fuel certificates improperly could result in budget overruns and waste.

Reflecting this current situation, the supply chain renewable energy procurement support device of this embodiment creates a renewable energy purchasing plan that determines the allocation and purchase timing of the amount of direct green electricity purchases and the amount of each environmental certificate purchase, so that the necessary renewable energy can be procured at low cost, without excess or shortage.

Incidentally, as new types of renewable energy products come on the market and old types disappear due to changes in laws and other factors, the system of this embodiment is designed to register and use algorithms for creating renewable energy purchasing plans, so that when market trends in renewable energy procurement change, it can be changed to a new one, or multiple algorithms can be registered and selected for use.

Next, we will explain the configuration of the supply chain renewable energy procurement support system using Figures 1 and 2.

As shown in Figure 1, the supply chain renewable energy procurement support system is configured with a supplier company server 10, a green electricity sales company server 20, an environmental certificate sales company server 30, and a supply chain renewable energy procurement support device 100 connected via a network 5.

Network 5 may be a LAN (Local Area Network) within the arranger company, or a global network such as the Internet.

The supplier company server 10 is a server that manages information related to production activities at supplier companies, and includes a parts production energy forecast/performance information transmission unit 11, a supplier contract unit 12, and a parts production energy forecast/performance database (DB) 13.

The parts production energy forecast/actual performance information transmission unit 11 is a functional unit that transmits data related to parts production energy forecasts and actual performance in the supplier's production activities to the supply chain renewable energy procurement support device 100. The supplier contract unit 12 is a functional unit that manages contracts between arrangers and suppliers, and between suppliers themselves.

The parts production energy forecast/performance database (DB) 13 is a database of parts production energy forecasts and performance performance in the supplier's production activities.

The green power sales company server 20 is a server that trades green power, such as a corporate PPA, and has a green power trading unit 21 and a green power trading DB 22.

The green electricity trading unit 21 is a functional unit that sells and manages green electricity to external companies.

The green electricity trading DB22 is a database that manages information regarding green electricity trading with external companies.

The environmental certificate sales company server 30 is a server that trades environmental certificates with external companies, and has an environmental certificate trading unit 31 and an environmental certificate trading DB 32.

The environmental certificate trading unit 31 is a functional unit that sells and manages environmental certificates to external companies.

The environmental certificate transaction DB 32 is a database that manages transaction information related to environmental certificates, and includes, for example, non-fossil certificate transaction data 321, J-Credit transaction data 322, and green power certificate transaction data 323.

Environmental certificates are securitizations of environmental value. Of these, non-fossil certificates have a consumption deadline within the fiscal year, but are in high circulation and are the cheapest of the certificates, while J-Credits and Green Power Certificates have no expiration date, but are more expensive than non-fossil certificates and are in low circulation.

The supply chain renewable energy procurement support device 100 is a server device operated by an arranger company that receives information about production activities from suppliers and creates a renewable energy purchasing plan for the entire supply chain. It has a supply chain information acquisition unit 101, a renewable energy procurement method registration unit 111, a renewable energy procurement plan creation unit 112, a renewable energy procurement plan adjustment unit 113, a renewable energy market price forecasting unit 114, a renewable energy procurement information input/output unit 121, a supplier company I/F unit 131, a green power company I/F unit 132, an environmental certificate sales company I/F unit 133, a supply chain DB 140, and a renewable energy procurement management DB 150.

The supply chain information acquisition unit 101 is a functional unit that acquires information on the predicted and actual energy values of parts related to products from the supplier company server 10 via the network 5. The renewable energy procurement method registration unit 111 is a functional unit for registering algorithms for creating renewable energy procurement plans. The renewable energy procurement plan creation unit 112 is a functional unit that creates renewable energy procurement plans based on supplier and arranger energy consumption forecast data 143 (described below) in accordance with the registered algorithm. The renewable energy procurement plan adjustment unit 113 is a functional unit that continuously monitors the differences between the renewable energy purchase plan and actual purchases, as well as between the planned and actual energy usage, and adjusts the contents of the purchase plan. The renewable energy market price prediction unit 114 is a functional unit that predicts the market price of environmental certificates related to renewable energy. The renewable energy procurement information input/output unit 121 is a functional unit that inputs and outputs information related to renewable energy procurement in the supply chain renewable energy procurement support device 100 to the user via the screen of a display device or printed on a printing device. The supplier company I/F unit 131 is a functional unit that performs interface processing with the supplier company server 10. The green electricity company I/F unit 132 is a functional unit that performs interface processing with the green electricity sales company server 20. The environmental certificate sales company I/F unit 133 is a functional unit that performs interface processing with the environmental certificate sales company server 30.

The supply chain DB 140 is a database of product-related supply chain information, and includes supply chain definition data 141, actual energy consumption data 142, and energy consumption forecast data 143.

Supply chain definition data 141 is setting data on the company structure and transaction information of the supply chain for raw material and parts procurement for products shipped by the arranger. Actual energy consumption data 142 is actual data on the energy consumed by each company in the supply chain for production activities. Forecast energy consumption data 143 is data on the energy predicted to be consumed by each company in the supply chain for production activities.

The renewable energy procurement management DB 150 is a database that manages information for creating renewable energy procurement plans, and includes renewable energy procurement algorithm data 151, renewable energy procurement performance data 152, renewable energy procurement plan data 153, and renewable energy procurement market price data 154.

Renewable energy procurement algorithm data 151 is data indicating an algorithm for creating a renewable energy procurement plan. The data indicating the algorithm may be data for executing a program, such as a program name or file name, or data indicating details such as the expiration date and type of environmental certificate and the unit price for green power. Renewable energy procurement performance data 152 is data indicating the past performance of renewable energy procurement by companies involved in the supply chain. Renewable energy procurement plan data 153 is data on a renewable energy procurement plan created by the supply chain renewable energy procurement support device. Renewable energy procurement market price data 154 is forecast data on the market price of environmental certificates and the market price of green power.

Next, the hardware and software configuration of the supply chain renewable energy procurement device will be described with reference to FIG. 2 .
The supply chain renewable energy procurement support device 100 has a hardware configuration that is realized by, for example, a general information processing device such as a personal computer shown in FIG. 2 .

The supply chain renewable energy procurement support device 100 comprises a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 202, a main memory device 204, a network I/F (Interface) 206, a display I/F 208, an input/output I/F 210, and an auxiliary memory I/F 212, all connected via a bus.

The CPU 202 controls each part of the supply chain renewable energy procurement support device 100 and loads and executes necessary programs into the main memory device 204.

The main memory device 204 is typically composed of volatile memory such as RAM, and stores the programs executed by the CPU 202 and the data referenced by it.

Network I/F 206 is an interface for connecting to network 5.

The display I/F 208 is an interface for connecting a display device 220 such as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display).

The input/output I/F 210 is an interface for connecting input/output devices. In the example of Figure 2, a keyboard 230 and a pointing device, a mouse 232, are connected.

The auxiliary storage I/F 212 is an interface for connecting an auxiliary storage device such as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 250 or an SSD (Solid State Drive).

The HDD 250 has a large storage capacity and stores programs for executing this embodiment. The supply chain renewable energy procurement support device 100 has installed therein a supply chain information acquisition program 261, a renewable energy procurement method registration program 262, a renewable energy procurement plan creation program 263, a renewable energy procurement plan adjustment program 264, a renewable energy market price forecasting program 265, a renewable energy procurement information input/output program 266, a supplier company I/F program 267, a green power company I/F program 268, and an environmental certificate sales company I/F program 269.

The supply chain information acquisition program 261, renewable energy procurement method registration program 262, renewable energy procurement plan creation program 263, renewable energy procurement plan adjustment program 264, renewable energy market price forecast program 265, renewable energy procurement information input/output program 266, supplier company I/F program 267, green power company I/F program 268, and environmental certificate sales company I/F program 269 are programs that respectively realize the functions of the supply chain information acquisition unit 101, renewable energy procurement method registration unit 111, renewable energy procurement plan creation unit 112, renewable energy procurement plan adjustment unit 113, renewable energy market price forecast unit 114, renewable energy procurement information input/output unit 121, supplier company I/F unit 131, green power company I/F unit 132, and environmental certificate sales company I/F unit 133.

The HDD 250 also stores the supply chain DB 140 and the renewable energy procurement management DB 150.

Next, we will explain the overview of the renewable energy planning process of the supply chain renewable energy procurement support device using Figures 3 to 8.

1) Creation of manufacturing and shipping plans, supplier manufacturing plans, and creation of supply chain definition data Arrangers create manufacturing and shipping plans for their own products, stating which products to ship and how many to ship, and select suppliers and enter into purchasing contracts for materials and parts so that the necessary raw materials and parts can be gathered before the start of production of each product.At this time, suppliers are divided into "long-term contract suppliers" with which the company has delivered parts or raw materials every month for the past few years and with which it has formed a so-called partnership, with which it will continue the contract in the future, and "short-term contract suppliers" with which it has not formed a partnership.

In this embodiment of the supply chain renewable energy procurement support system, the arranger draws up a product shipping plan for the following fiscal year and beyond during the previous fiscal year and enters into a contract with the supplier. The arranger wants to make their own products RE100, so when signing a contract with the supplier, they confirm whether they can provide parts for production using RE100. Here, even if the supplier is able to assemble part A using RE100 (can be manufactured using green energy), if they are unable to manufacture part B used to assemble part A using RE100 (cannot be manufactured using green energy), then RE100 will not be permitted for the manufacture of part A.

In this way, supplier supply relationships are traced when manufacturing parts, and supplier definition data 141 is created, leading up to the parts and raw materials that qualify for RE100.

As a supply chain model for this embodiment, as shown in Figure 3, it is assumed that Company A, an arranger, has made a plan to ship 1,000 units of a product called "Product A" (assumed to be an electronic device) in December of the following year, and that a supply chain consisting of 25 companies, from Company B to Company Z, exists to procure materials and parts for the production of this product.

The supply chain involves a chain of suppliers such as semiconductor raw materials (manufactured by Company E) → MCU (manufactured by Company C) → substrate (manufactured by Company B), alloy materials (manufactured by Company F) → parts (manufactured by Company B) → substrate (manufactured by Company B).

Finally, the board (manufactured by Company B), parts (manufactured by Company G), ..., and box (manufactured by Company W) are delivered to Company A, the arranger, and Product A is assembled.

The supply chain definition data 141 consists of, for example, transaction information for each supplier's purchased items for product A, information on RE100, and information related to contracts, as shown in Figure 4.

In the example shown in FIG. 4, for example, the following information is included:
Arranger "Company A" plans to purchase "500 units" of the purchase item "circuit boards" from supplier "Company B" in "August" and "500 units" in "September."
In this case, supplier "Company B" does not accept RE100, and the contract period between supplier "Company B" and delivery destination "Company A" is "long-term."
- "Company B" purchases the purchase item "Part D" from supplier "Company D".
- The production of purchased item "Part D" by supplier "Company D" is RE100 "Not Allowed."
- "Company D" purchases the purchasing item "steel" from supplier "Company F."
- The production of the purchased item "steel" by supplier "Company F" is "RE100 OK" and is carried out using green energy.
- Arranger "Company A" purchases the purchase item "Parts" from supplier "Company G".
- Supplier "Company G" does not allow RE100 to be used in the manufacture of "parts," and the manufacturing is not carried out using green energy.

When multiple products are shipped and sold, supply chain definition data 141 like this is created for each product's shipping plan.

2) Energy consumption forecast for each supplier and arranger The arranger will procure the amount of renewable energy required for its own business and the amount of renewable energy required by suppliers that cannot qualify for RE100 on their own. Therefore, during the period when each supplier operates their production line to manufacture deliveries to the arranger, the amount of electricity used during that period and the amount of energy other than electricity (city gas, heavy oil, LPG, etc.) will be recorded as the _CO2 emission equivalent and energy consumption for each month.

To achieve this, suppliers that cannot achieve RE100 must obtain the above energy consumption forecast for the following fiscal year before the start of each fiscal year and send it to the supply chain renewable energy procurement support device 100. This can be obtained, for example, by installing a power meter on the production line's distribution board, and using the power consumption of the production line for similar parts and components in the past and the ratio of production volume and number of units to predict the power consumption based on the planned production number of deliveries to the arranger for each month of the following year. For example, if 400 kW was consumed per similar part in the past, then producing 300 units in June of the following year will result in a power consumption of 400 kW x 300 = 120,000 kW. Similar predictions can be made for fuels other than electricity.

Fig. 5A is a graph showing the monthly predicted energy consumption values of long-term contract supplier G, and Fig. 6A is energy consumption prediction data 143 for G. In this way, G manufactures part G over the course of a year. The graph on the left is an electricity usage graph with the vertical axis in units of kWh, and the graph on the right is a gas usage graph with the vertical axis in units of t- _CO2 ( _CO2 emission equivalent).

On the other hand, Figure 5B is a graph showing the monthly predicted energy consumption values for short-term contract supplier D, and Figure 6B is the predicted energy consumption data 143 for D.

Company D manufactures parts for Company A only in August and September, and energy consumption is an issue only during these months.

3) Calculation of the amount of green electricity to be procured The arranger calculates the amount of green electricity to be directly purchased in order to reduce the cost of converting product manufacturing to RE100. As already explained, direct green electricity purchases (corporate PPA) generally involve long-term contracts, so the amount is allocated to the arranger's renewable energy procurement with long-term contract suppliers. In addition, the arranger's policy is to contract for the amount of electricity that will definitely be used so as to avoid over-procurement.

As shown in Figure 7A, if the power consumption forecast for the lowest month by arranger A is P _min (arranger A), the power consumption forecast for the lowest month by long-term contract supplier A is P _min (supplier B), ..., and the power consumption forecast for the lowest month by long-term contract supplier Z is P _min (supplier Z), the green power procurement value P _total for this fiscal year will be the sum of these: P _min (arranger A) + P _min (supplier B) + ... + P _min (supplier Z).

4) Calculation of the arranger's renewable energy procurement amount The renewable energy procurement amount calculated by the arranger is the monthly sum of the amount of energy consumed in RE100-free production by the arranger and each supplier, converted into t- _CO2 , based on the calculation in "2) Energy consumption forecast of each supplier and the arranger." As shown in Figure 7B, when the amount of energy consumed in month m, converted into t- _CO2 , is C (production entity, m), the amount of renewable energy procurement C _total (m) that the arranger should procure in month m is C (arranger A, m) + C (supplier B, m) + ... + C (supplier Z, m), as shown in Figure 7A.

5) Calculation of the amount of renewable energy procured under the arranger's environmental certificate The arranger calculates the amount of renewable energy procured under the environmental certificate that the arranger should purchase based on the green power procurement value P _total for the fiscal year calculated in "3) Calculation of the amount of green power procured" and the renewable energy procurement amount C _total (m) calculated in 4) Calculation of the arranger's renewable energy procurement amount. The amount of renewable energy procured under the environmental certificate for month m that the arranger should purchase, C _cert (m), is C _cert (m) = C _total (m) - P _total , as shown in Figure 7C.

6) Purchase of Environmental Certificates by Arranger The arranger will purchase Environmental Certificates in several installments within the fiscal year based on the monthly renewable energy procurement amount calculated in "5) Calculation of the amount of renewable energy procurement using the arranger's Environmental Certificates."

The reason for purchasing Environmental Certificates in several installments in this way is that the calculated amount of renewable energy procurement in the Environmental Certificates is based on the arranger's and each supplier's forecast energy consumption in their production activities, the value of Environmental Certificates fluctuates according to market prices, and, as already mentioned, some Environmental Certificates have expiration dates, such as Non-Fossil Certificates, while others do not, such as J-Credits and Green Power Certificates. Generally, Environmental Certificates with expiration dates are relatively expensive, while Environmental Certificates without expiration dates are relatively inexpensive. This allows the arranger to purchase Environmental Certificates flexibly based on the forecast amount of renewable energy procurement, and also to keep total costs down in terms of the expiration dates of the Environmental Certificates.

The market price forecast for environmental certificates is based on the current prices of each certificate on renewable energy retailer service sites and long-term weather and temperature forecasts. It predicts the number of environmental certificates available on the market, such as whether the rainy season will be prolonged and solar power generation will decrease significantly nationwide, or whether solar thermal power generation will not decrease as much as usual in winter due to a warm winter, and estimates increases or decreases in demand based on factors such as the rise and fall of the environmental boom, to predict prices. Market price forecasts for environmental certificates are made by certificate type, but the certificate with the lowest price per unit of electricity is used to determine the purchase timing and quantity.

In the model shown in Figure 8, environmental certificates are purchased in four installments within the fiscal year (starting in early April and ending at the end of March), and are purchased at times when the predicted market price for environmental certificates is at its lowest point, according to the market price forecast for environmental certificates. The first purchase is scheduled for early May, the second purchase for early October, the third purchase for early November, and the fourth purchase for early March.

The first purchase amount is for April to June: C _cert (4) + C _cert (5) + C _cert (6), the second purchase amount is for July to October: C _cert (7) + C _cert (8) + C _cert (9) + C _cert (10), the third purchase amount is for November to February: C _cert (11) + C _cert (12) + C _cert (1) + C _cert (2), and the fourth purchase amount is for March: C _cert (3).

Please note that environmental certificates with expiration dates can also be used for past renewable energy procurements within the same fiscal year.

For this reason, it makes sense to purchase relatively inexpensive environmental certificates with expiration dates for the first through third purchases, and relatively expensive environmental certificates without expiration dates for the fourth purchase. This is because if the fourth purchase is not used within the fiscal year, it can be carried over to the next fiscal year.

Another option is to allocate 30% of the third purchase to environmental certificates with an expiration date and 70% to environmental certificates without an expiration date.

In other words, generally, as the end of the fiscal year approaches, the ratio of allocation of environmental certificates with no expiration date to those with an expiration date increases.

7) Adjustment of renewable energy procurement amount The renewable energy procurement plan in "6) Arranger's purchase of environmental certificates" involved purchasing environmental certificates based on a forecast of non-RE100 energy consumption in the supply chain for the previous year, which may result in a discrepancy with the actual energy consumption in production activities of the supply chain. In such cases, the arranger will make an adjustment for each purchase month if the difference (which may be either an increase or decrease) between the forecast of cumulative non-RE100 energy consumption in the purchase month and the actual energy consumption in production activities of the supply chain is greater than a specified threshold.

In the example of Figure 8, for the arranger, the first to third purchases would be in accordance with the environmental certificates, and relatively inexpensive open-ended environmental certificates would be purchased to minimize costs. The fourth purchase would be a backup purchase, and if necessary, an environmental certificate with a fixed deadline would be purchased, even if it is relatively expensive. This could be a way for the arranger to procure renewable energy that minimizes costs.

In that case, for the arranger, in the example of Figure 8, when making adjustments, the first to third purchases would be adjusted according to the environmental certificates to minimize costs (purchase environmental certificates with lower market prices and reduce the purchase quantity of environmental certificates with higher market prices), and the fourth and final purchase of the fiscal year would be considered a preliminary purchase, and so that there would be no loss even if extra purchases were made during adjustments (they can be used in the next fiscal year as well).If additional environmental certificates are to be purchased, it would be optimal to purchase relatively expensive environmental certificates with no expiration date, and when reducing the quantity of environmental certificates to be purchased, it would be optimal to adjust the quantity of relatively inexpensive environmental certificates with no expiration date.

Next, details of the processing of the supply chain renewable energy procurement support device will be explained using Figures 9 to 13.

First, a series of processes for creating a renewable energy procurement plan for the next fiscal year will be described with reference to FIG. 9 .
First, the supply chain renewable energy procurement support device 100 sets a renewable energy procurement method (renewable energy procurement algorithm (S100)). The setting information is saved as renewable energy procurement algorithm data 151.

Next, the supply chain renewable energy procurement support device 100 acquires supply chain definition data 141 related to products to be shipped in the next fiscal year and beyond (S101).

Next, the supply chain renewable energy procurement support device 100 references the supply chain definition data 141 and extracts joint suppliers for renewable energy procurement (S102).

Next, the supply chain renewable energy procurement support device 100 references the supply chain definition data 141 and predicts non-RE100 energy consumption for each arranger and each supplier (S103).

Next, the supply chain renewable energy procurement support device 100 determines the green electricity purchase price (S104). Details of this process will be explained later using Figure 10.

Next, the supply chain renewable energy procurement support device 100 accesses the green power sales company server 20 and enters into a long-term contract for purchasing green power in accordance with the green power purchase value determined in S104 (S105).

Next, the supply chain renewable energy procurement support device 100 performs a process to create an environmental certificate delivery plan (S106). Details of this process will be explained later using Figure 12.

Next, the supply chain renewable energy procurement support device 100 accesses the supplier company server 10 and determines whether there has been a change in the contract between the arranger and the supplier (S107). If there has been a change in the contract between the arranger and the supplier (S107: YES), the process proceeds to S110; if there has not been a change in the contract between the arranger and the supplier (S107: NO), the process ends.

If there is a change in the contract between the arranger and the supplier in S107, the supply chain renewable energy procurement support device 100 updates the supply chain definition data 141 (S110) and returns to S101.

Next, the process of determining the green electricity purchase price will be described in detail with reference to FIG.
This is the process corresponding to S104 in FIG.
First, the supply chain renewable energy procurement support device 100 refers to the supply chain definition data 141 and determines whether or not there is a long-term contract supplier that consumes energy other than RE100 among the joint suppliers of renewable energy procurement (S200).If there is such a long-term contract supplier (S200: YES), the process proceeds to S201, and if there is no long-term contract supplier (S200: NO), the process proceeds to S210.

Next, in S200, if there is a relevant long-term contract supplier, the supply chain renewable energy procurement support device 100 references the supply chain definition data 141 and extracts the month with the lowest non-RE100 power consumption for each long-term contract supplier/arranger (S201), and calculates the total power consumption value for each long-term contract supplier/arranger in the month with the lowest non-RE100 power consumption as the monthly green power purchase value (S202).

Next, if there is no applicable long-term contract supplier in S200, the supply chain renewable energy procurement support device 100 references the supply chain definition data 141 and extracts the month with the lowest non-RE100 power consumption for the arranger only (S210), and sets the power consumption value for the arranger's month with the lowest non-RE100 power consumption to the monthly green power purchase value (S211). This is because, even when there is no applicable long-term contract supplier, it is rational for the arranger to purchase green power throughout the year for non-RE100 power consumption.

Next, the details of the process for creating an environmental certificate delivery plan will be described with reference to FIG.
The supply chain renewable energy procurement support device 100 refers to the energy consumption forecast data 143 and calculates the total value of the non-RE100 power consumption of each supplier/arranger under a long-term contract (S300).

Next, the supply chain renewable energy procurement support device 100 calculates the amount of renewable energy to be procured under the environmental certificate from the total non-RE100 power consumption of each supplier/arranger under a long-term contract and the green power purchase value determined in S104 (S301).

Next, the supply chain renewable energy procurement support device 100 acquires renewable energy procurement market price data 154 and predicts the market price for environmental certificates (S302).

The market price for environmental certificates is based on the premise that it is possible to predict the market price based on past renewable energy procurement market price data 154 and weather forecasts. The graph of environmental certificate market price data shows that the cycle of peaks and valleys is roughly consistent throughout the year, and when the weather is good, the market price for environmental certificates tends to fall, and when the weather is bad, the market price for environmental certificates tends to rise.

Next, the supply chain renewable energy procurement support device 100 determines the purchase month of the environmental certificates and the purchase amount and allocation by type of environmental certificate based on the market price forecast for the environmental certificates, and stores this in the renewable energy procurement plan data 153 (S303).

For example, as shown in Figure 8, environmental certificates are purchased four times a year, and in order to keep costs down, environmental certificates with a low unit price per kW are purchased based on the market price forecast at the time. For the first three purchases, 90% of the total renewable energy procurement amount through environmental certificates is made up of relatively inexpensive limited-term environmental certificates, and only for the fourth purchase is a relatively expensive open-term environmental certificate purchased.

Next, the renewable energy procurement and renewable energy procurement adjustment process will be described with reference to FIG.
Renewable energy procurement and renewable energy procurement adjustment processing will be carried out from the next fiscal year onwards after the renewable energy procurement plan is created.

First, the supply chain renewable energy procurement support device 100 acquires the renewable energy procurement plan data 153 of each supplier/arranger (S400).

Next, the supply chain renewable energy procurement support device 100 accesses the green power sales company server 20 to enter into a green power purchase contract, and accesses the environmental certificate sales company server 30 to purchase an environmental certificate (S401).

Next, the supply chain renewable energy procurement support device 100 sets the renewable energy procurement performance data 152 (S402).

Next, the supply chain renewable energy procurement support device 100 adjusts renewable energy procurement using the environmental certificate (S403). Details of adjusting renewable energy procurement using the environmental certificate will be explained next using Figure 13.

Next, details of the renewable energy procurement adjustment process will be described with reference to FIG. 13 .
First, the supply chain renewable energy procurement support apparatus 100 acquires the cumulative renewable energy procurement amount from the renewable energy procurement record data 152 (S500).

Next, the supply chain renewable energy procurement support device 100 accesses the supplier company server 10 and calculates the actual cumulative non-RE100 energy consumption of each supplier/arranger (S501).

Next, the supply chain renewable energy procurement support device 100 calculates the difference between the actual cumulative renewable energy procurement amount and the actual cumulative non-RE100 energy consumption amount of each supplier/arranger (S502). If the absolute value of the difference between the actual cumulative renewable energy procurement amount and the actual cumulative non-RE100 energy consumption amount of each supplier/arranger is greater than a predetermined threshold (S503: YES), the process proceeds to S504; if it is less than the predetermined threshold (S503: NO), the process returns to S500.

In S502, if the absolute value of the difference between the actual cumulative renewable energy procurement amount and the actual cumulative non-RE100 energy consumption amount of each supplier/arranger is greater than a predetermined threshold, the supply chain renewable energy procurement support device 100 generates an alarm on an alarm screen (S504) (not shown).

Next, the supply chain renewable energy procurement support device 100 determines whether it is the month for purchasing an environmental certificate according to the renewable energy procurement plan (S505). If it is the month for purchasing an environmental certificate (S505: YES), the process proceeds to S506; if it is not the month for purchasing an environmental certificate (S505: NO), the process returns to S500.

In S505, if it is the purchase month of the environmental certificate, it is determined whether the purchase month is the final purchase month of the fiscal year (S506). If the purchase month is the final purchase month of the fiscal year (S506: YES), proceed to S507. If the purchase month is not the final purchase month of the fiscal year (S506: NO), proceed to S510.

In S506, if the purchase month is the final purchase month of the fiscal year, the increase in the procurement of environmental certificates is adjusted by purchasing open-ended environmental certificates, and the decrease is adjusted by reducing the purchase of time-limited environmental certificates (S507), and the process ends.

If, in S506, the purchase month is not the final purchase month of the fiscal year, the purchase amount is adjusted so that the purchase cost of the limited-term environmental certificate is minimized (S510), and the process returns to S500.

As described above, the supply chain renewable energy procurement support device of this embodiment eliminates the renewable energy procurement effort between companies that want to manufacture RE100 products and multiple companies connected upstream in the product supply chain, supports the stable procurement of renewable energy at low cost, and promotes decarbonization throughout the entire supply chain.

In other words, with the supply chain renewable energy procurement support device of this embodiment, a company aiming to make its products RE100 automatically creates a joint renewable energy procurement plan based on the product production schedules of each upstream company in the supply chain, including small and medium-sized enterprises. This removes the burden on each individual supplier, the small and medium-sized enterprise, of procuring renewable energy, and also enables the necessary renewable energy to be procured across the entire supply chain at low cost, without excess or shortage.

5...Network,
10... Supplier company server, 11... Parts production energy forecast/performance information transmission unit, 12... Supplier contract unit, 13... Parts production energy forecast/performance DB,
20... Green power sales company server, 21... Green power trading unit, 22... Green power trading DB,
30... Environmental certificate sales company server, 31... Environmental certificate trading unit, 32... Environmental certificate trading DB, 321... Non-fossil certificate trading data, 322... J-Credit trading data, 323... Green power certificate trading data,
100...Supply chain renewable energy procurement support device,
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101...Supply chain information acquisition unit, 111...Renewable energy procurement method registration unit, 112...Renewable energy procurement plan creation unit, 113...Renewable energy procurement plan adjustment unit, 114...Renewable energy market price forecasting unit, 121...Renewable energy procurement information input/output unit, 131...Supplier company I/F unit, 132...Green power company I/F unit, 133...Environmental certificate sales company I/F unit, 140...Supply chain DB, 141...Supply chain definition data, 142...Energy consumption actual data, 143...Energy consumption forecast data, 150...Renewable energy procurement management DB, 151...Renewable energy procurement algorithm data, 152...Renewable energy procurement actual data, 153...Renewable energy procurement plan data, 154...Renewable energy procurement market price data

Claims (10)

A supply chain renewable energy procurement support device for procuring renewable energy to achieve a renewable energy usage rate of 100% (RE100) throughout the supply chain in the production of a product,
Supply chain definition data that defines the supply chain relationships in the manufacturing of the product and whether each supplier can manufacture using renewable energy;
We retain energy consumption data from past manufacturing records, including the final assembly of the product and each supplier, where the renewable energy usage rate is not 100%.
Based on the supply chain definition data and the energy consumption performance data, a prediction is made of energy consumption that is not 100% renewable energy usage rate at the final assembler of the product and each supplier from past manufacturing performance;
A supply chain renewable energy procurement support device that creates a renewable energy procurement plan that determines the timing and type of renewable energy purchases based on past manufacturing performance and predictions of energy consumption by the product's final assembler and each supplier, even if the renewable energy usage rate is not 100%. The supply chain renewable energy procurement support device described in claim 1, characterized in that the type of renewable energy procurement is direct purchase of green power or environmental certificate. The supply chain renewable energy procurement support device of claim 2, characterized in that the environmental certificates include environmental certificates with expiration dates and environmental certificates without expiration dates. The supply chain renewable energy procurement support device described in claim 2, characterized in that the environmental certificate is a non-fossil certificate, a J-Credit, or a green power certificate. The supply chain definition data includes information on whether each supplier has a long-term contract for supplying parts to other suppliers or final assemblers;
The supply chain renewable energy procurement support device of claim 2, characterized in that renewable energy is procured through the direct purchase of green electricity for the predicted amount of energy consumption by the final assembler, the final assembler of the product resulting from the manufacture of parts related to the long-term contract, and each supplier, where the renewable energy usage rate is not 100%, and renewable energy is procured using the environmental certificate for the predicted amount of energy consumption by the final assembler of the product resulting from the manufacture of parts not related to the long-term contract, and each supplier, where the renewable energy usage rate is not 100%. The supply chain renewable energy procurement support device described in claim 3, characterized in that the renewable energy procurement period is divided into several periods within a fiscal year, and the ratio of procurement of environmental certificates with expiration dates to those without expiration dates increases as the renewable energy procurement period at the end of the fiscal year approaches. The supply chain renewable energy procurement support device described in claim 3, characterized in that the renewable energy procurement period is divided into several periods within a fiscal year, and renewable energy is procured using an environmental certificate with an expiration date during the final renewable energy procurement period within the fiscal year, and renewable energy is procured using an environmental certificate with an expiration date during renewable energy procurement periods other than the final renewable energy procurement period within the fiscal year. The supply chain renewable energy procurement support device described in claim 3, characterized in that it predicts market prices for environmental certificates, and for environmental certificates with expiration dates, it procures renewable energy using environmental certificates with a lower market price per unit energy. The supply chain renewable energy procurement support device of claim 7, characterized in that when the absolute value of the difference between the predicted amount of energy consumption where the final product assembler and each supplier do not use 100% renewable energy and the actual amount of energy consumption where the final product assembler and each supplier do not use 100% renewable energy reaches or exceeds a certain threshold, the renewable energy procurement period is the final renewable energy procurement period of the fiscal year, and adjustments to incremental renewable energy procurement involve adjusting the purchase amount of environmental certificates with no expiration date, and adjustments to incremental renewable energy procurement involve adjusting the purchase amount of environmental certificates with an expiration date. A supply chain renewable energy procurement support method using a supply chain renewable energy procurement support device for procuring renewable energy to achieve a renewable energy usage rate of 100% (RE100) throughout the supply chain in the production of a product,
The types of renewable energy procurement are direct purchase of green power or environmental certificates.
The environmental certificates include environmental certificates with expiration dates and environmental certificates without expiration dates,
The supply chain renewable energy procurement support device comprises:
Supply chain definition data that defines the supply chain relationships in the manufacturing of the product and whether each supplier can manufacture using renewable energy;
We retain energy consumption data from past manufacturing records, including the final assembly of the product and each supplier, where the renewable energy usage rate is not 100%.
The supply chain definition data includes information on whether each supplier has a long-term contract for supplying parts to other suppliers or final assemblers;
a step in which the supply chain renewable energy procurement support device predicts energy consumption at a final assembler of a product and each supplier that has a renewable energy usage rate that is not 100% based on past manufacturing results, based on the supply chain definition data and the energy consumption result data;
The supply chain renewable energy procurement support device has a step of creating a renewable energy procurement plan that determines the timing and type of renewable energy purchase based on a prediction result of energy consumption in which the renewable energy usage rate is not 100% at the final assembler of the product and each supplier from past manufacturing results,
A supply chain renewable energy procurement support method characterized by procuring renewable energy through the direct purchase of green electricity for the predicted amount of energy consumption by the final assembler, the final assembler of the product resulting from the manufacture of parts related to the long-term contract, and each supplier, where the renewable energy usage rate is not 100%, and procuring renewable energy using the environmental certificate for the predicted amount of energy consumption by the final assembler of the product resulting from the manufacture of parts not related to the long-term contract, and each supplier, where the renewable energy usage rate is not 100%.