Experiment Using Unwanted Snow to Generate Power Runs in Aomori; Company Hopes to Help Snowy Regions

By Hikari Yadaka / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

7:00 JST, February 11, 2025

AOMORI — An Aomori City-based IT company has developed a system that generates electricity and hot water from snowmelt. Whether the system can be utilized in everyday life is being studied in the city.

There are also hopes the system can be utilized to melt accumulated snow. Forte Co. aims to put the system into practical use by the end of the year.

Powering lanterns

In December, water pipes were seen in a parking lot behind the A-Factory complex near JR Aomori Station. The pipes were attached to a 50-centermeter-square engine, a power generation system, installed at the warehouse.

There was snowfall on the surface of the parking lot, but the asphalt pavement underneath was visible in sections where the snow had been melted by water heated in the power generation system.

In the demonstration experiment conducted by Forte with the support of an affiliate of East Japan Railway Co. (JR East), generated electricity also was used to power lanterns in the Aomori Lights & Paper Pageant, an event held at the A-Factory and some other facilities.

A device called a Stirling engine was used in the power generation system.

In a Stirling engine, the temperature difference between heat sources, including gas, and coolants, such as water and antifreeze liquid, inside the engine cause a piston to move. When the temperature difference reaches 400 C, the system is said to generate about 1,000 watts of power in around 10 minutes, enough to charge around 200 mobile phones.

In the experiment, the coolant used was melted snow. It passed through the engine and heated up to about 70 C. The heated water was then sprayed through small holes in the pipes leading outside, melting the snow. The water, which cooled down after it melted the snow, could then be reused as coolant to generate power along with the melted snow water.

Benefits

Development of the power generation system began in December 2022 in collaboration with the University of Electro-Communications in Tokyo.

In an experiment conducted in Kutchan, Hokkaido, in January last year, antifreeze liquid was used as the coolant. It was confirmed that the heated antifreeze went through a copper pipe system laid outside and immediately melted the snow on the piping network.

Moreover, from the viewpoint of removing accumulated snow, the system is said to be advantageous because it reduces fuel and labor costs more than electricity- or kerosene-based conventional systems.

Having been praised for its usefulness and feasibility, the new power generation system was certified in December by the prefecture as one of the new products to be promoted by the local government.

The prefecture certifies new products developed and manufactured by local companies and helps promote them to revitalize local industries.

Forte will continue to conduct experiments using heat sources other than gas, including environmentally friendly biomass pellets.

The company hopes to sell the system to municipal governments, public bathhouses and others as it can be used to melt snow and heat water at public facilities and parking lots, among other places.

“We hope people will find the system attractive and useful in solving the problems faced by snowy regions, as it can produce both hot water and electricity while melting snow,” said Forte employee Daiki Shikanai, 26.