Centrica Business Solutions has joined forces with Japan’s largest power company, TEPCO, to deliver demand response capacity for the local grid.
From April onwards, TEPCO Ventures will use Centrica’s FlexPond demand-side response (DSR) platform to provide flexibility services in the Kyushu region.
The deal will see the FlexPond platform used in a way that will allow utilities to build their own virtual power plants (VPPs) and deliver clean demand-side response capacity from a variety of flexible generation and demand assets.
The platform is currently used by more than 150 of Europe’s largest energy users and has won awards for its capabilities in high-value reserve markets that require a response in under a second.
Pieter-Jan Mermans, global optimisation director for Centrica Business Solutions said: “We are delighted to be supporting TEPCO in their mission to drive forward demand response in Japan, harnessing the power of flexible industrial demand while securing a new revenue stream for their customer base.
“At Centrica we believe that one of our key responsibilities is to help our customers reduce their carbon footprint. Building virtual power plants that mitigate the need to build new fossil-fuelled plants is a key part of that so giving other energy and utility companies access to our software is an important way for us to support global decarbonisation efforts.”
Shinji Akatsuka, president of TEPCO Ventures added: “It is a great honour for TEPCO Ventures to work with Centrica, which has a proven track record in Europe. We look forward to contributing to the realisation of a low carbon society.”