Speakers Profile Renewables and Decarbonization of the Electricity Grid

in Japanese

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  Rena Kuwahata
  Energy Analyst Power System Transformation, International Energy Agency (IEA)

  Rena Kuwahata has been working in the electric power sector for 20 years, dedicated to renewables integration into power grids and markets. From assessing wind and gas power grid compliance and transmission losses in Australia, to testing the robustness of European power grid planning and operation, her career has spanned continents and from technical to policy levels. Now, since joining the IEA last year, she has been leading the agency’s work on regional interconnection for decarbonisation and enhancing energy security.

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  Dimitri Pescia
  Program Lead, International, Agora Energiewende

  Dimitri Pescia is Program Lead at Agora Energiewende, where he is responsible for international energy policies and global energy transition with a focus on East and Southeast Asia. He previously worked for the French Department of Economic Affairs and the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he focused on reinforcing the French-German bilateral cooperation on energy, environmental and industrial policies. He conducted numerous studies on the transformation of energy systems in Germany, Europe, and Asia, focusing on renewable energy integration in power systems, market design, and long-term policy roadmaps towards net-zero. A native French speaker, Dimitri Pescia holds a Master of Science in Physics from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) and an Imperial College London International Diploma in Physics.

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  Takao Tsuji
  Professor, Division of Intelligent Systems Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Yokohama National University

  After earning a Doctorate in Engineering from Yokohama National University in 2006, Takao Tsuji started his career as Research Associate at the Graduate School of Information Science and Electrical Engineering at Kyushu University. He then became Assistant Professor at the Division of Intelligent Systems Engineering, Faculty of Engineering at Yokohama National University, assumed his position as Associate Professor in 2011, and current position in 2023. His research focuses on studies on the coexistence of renewable energy and distributed power sources with conventional power systems.
  He is a temporary member of the Advisory Committee on Natural Resources and Energy, Agency for Natural Resources and Energy. Member of the following committees/groups under Organization for Cross-regional Coordination of Transmission Operators, Japan (OCCTO); Subcommittee for the Study of Supply-Demand Coordination Market, Acting chief of the Working Group for Technical Study on Subdivision of Coordination Power and Cross Regional Procurement; the Study Committee for the Master Plan of Cross Regional Interconnection System and Rules for System Use; the Verification Committee for Large-Scale Power Outages following the 2008 Hokkaido Eastern Iburi earthquake. He is a member of the Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan.

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  Tatsuya Wakeyama
  Associate Professor, School of Environment and Society, Tokyo Institute of Technology

  Tatsuya Wakeyama (Ph.D.) is Associate Professor at the School of Environment and Society, Tokyo Institute of Technology from 2022. Prior to that he was Associate Professor at Kyushu University Platform of Inter/Transdisciplinary Energy Research. He joined Renewable Energy Institute in 2012, and is Senior Research Fellow since 2018. He specializes in energy scenario analysis with the case of high integration of renewables by using AMPL: A Modeling Language for Mathematical Programming, as well as resource engineering, geothermal energy and geographic information system (GIS). He holds a Ph.D. from Kyushu University on renewable energy potential evaluation by using GIS.

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  Hiroshi Takahashi
  Professor, Faculty of Social Science, Hosei University

  Hiroshi Takahashi specializes in public policy and energy policy. He obtained a master’s degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, MA, USA and a doctoral degree from the University of Tokyo, and currently serves as Professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences at Hosei University. His former career includes Deputy Director at IT Policy Office of Cabinet Secretariat, Assistant Professor at the University of Tokyo, and Research Fellow at Fujitsu Research Institute, and Professor at Tsuru University. He has actively participated in the policy formation of Japan’s electricity system reform and renewable energy policy as a member of the Advisory Committee for Natural Resources and Energy, a special advisor to the Cabinet Office and a member of Regulatory Reform for renewable energy deployment. He is the author of "International Political Economy of Energy Transition" (2021, Nihon Hyoron Sha), "Energy Policy Studies" (2017, Iwanami Shoten) and "Market Liberalization of Electric Utilities" (2011, Nihon Keizai Shimbun Shuppansha), among others.

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  Mika Ohbayashi
  Director, Renewable Energy Institute

  Mika Ohbayashi is Director at Renewable Energy Institute since its foundation in August 2011. Before joining the Institute, from 2010 to 2011, she worked in Abu Dhabi for the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) as Policy and Project Regional Manager for Asia Oceania. Prior to that, she worked at the British Embassy to Japan as Climate Change Project Advisor from 2008 to 2009, and served as Director at the Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies from 2000 to 2008. She started her career in the energy field by joining the Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center in 1992. In 2017, she was awarded the ISES Global Leadership Award in Advancing Solar Energy Policy - in honour of Hermann Scheer by the International Solar Energy Society.

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  Seiichiro Kimura
  Senior Researcher, Renewable Energy Institute

  Seiichiro Kimura (Ph.D., P.E.jp) joined Renewable Energy Institute in 2018. Specializes in cost-benefit analysis, techno-economic analysis with market penetrating simulation in the energy system. He started his career at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in 2004, and was engaged in development of hydrogen energy until 2010. After working for International Institute for Carbon-Neutral Energy Research of Kyushu University, he became an associate at the Matsushita Institute of Government and Management between 2014 and 2018, where he was engaged in research on interconnecting electric power systems with the aim of increasing energy self-sufficiency through its own resources and eventually becoming a nation capable of suppling energy to other countries (energy-exporting nation). He received B.Sc. from Tokyo University of Science, M.Sc. from Tokyo Institute of Technology, and Ph.D. from Kyushu University.
  At Renewable Energy Institute, his research focuses on interconnectors and market design for electricity system reform. He has also been responsible for formulating visualized charts and maps for the Power Supply/Demand and Power Flow of Interregional Interconnections data on the Institute’s website.

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