We just got back from the kickoff of Smart Energy Week 2013 at Tokyo Big Sight – a sprawling expo covering the East and West wings of the massive building.

On one side was the Photovoltaic Power Generation Expo (PV Expo 2013), on the other side, International Rechargeable Battery Expo (Battery Japan).

Kicking off in the morning was a ribbon-cutting with presidents of many energy and industrial companies, government dignitaries, including ambassadors, and others. Japanese Prime Minister Abe was scheduled to make an appearance but provided a statement about Japan’s commitment to the development of energy technology.

There are a lot of interesting technical ideas and concepts being developed in the energy space related to wind power, solar power, batteries, etc. that were on display. We’ll profile a few of them that caught our eye in upcoming posts.