Kawasaki, Japan—Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions Corporation (hereinafter “Toshiba ESS”) announced today that the company has invested in Open Utility Ltd. (hereinafter “Piclo”), a UK-based startup that provides a marketplace for the flexible trading of distributed energy resources (DER).^* Through this investment and the strengthening of relationships with Piclo, Toshiba ESS intends to gain an understanding of the current status of related businesses and the institutional design in Europe and the United States based on Piclo’s business and ecosystem. The company also plans to develop services for DER flexibility markets, which are expected to be established in the future.

In 2021, the Japanese government announced its 6^th Strategic Energy Plan, which included a national electricity mix plan to increase the share attributable to renewable energy from 36% to 38% by 2030. Since renewable energy will be introduced in a relatively large number of regions in a dispersed manner, the power grid is expected to become congested, and the power transmission and distribution network will need to be strengthened. On the other hand, efficient use of storage batteries, EVs, and other DERs as regulating power sources will avoid inefficient power grid reinforcement, and there is a growing need for trading for DER flexibility. Furthermore, in Europe, it is essential for power distribution companies to participate in DER flexibility trading markets or to develop their own platforms with equivalent functions prior to grid reinforcement.

Piclo was founded in 2013 and has been providing a DER flexibility trading marketplace for battery storage operators, EV operators, and VPP operators since 2018 in Europe and other regions. Piclo won contracts with Enel in Italy, the largest in Europe, and UK Power Networks, the largest in the UK, among many other power distribution companies.

Tadasu Yotsuyanagi, Director, President, and CEO of Toshiba ESS, says, “We are honored to work with Piclo. Toshiba ESS will continue to contribute to the realization of a sustainable society by providing infrastructure services that improve the value of energy systems by making full use of Toshiba ESS’s wealth of knowledge and achievements in the energy field, technologies, know-how, and digital spaces.”

*DER flexibility: Ability to flexibly vary generation and load size.