Leveraging EV/PHEV as Resources for Virtual Power Plants Commencement of Trial Operation of V2G Business Demonstration Facilities

TOKYO, Aug 7, 2020 – (JCN Newswire) – Thirty companies including Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc. have used the grant to cover the costs of its “FY2020 Demonstration Project for the Construction of a Virtual Power Plant that Utilizes Demand-Side Energy Resources (VPP Aggregation Project),” for which a public offering was made by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) through its Sustainable Open Innovation Initiative, to commence the demonstration phase of this experiment. (Announced on June 8, 2020)

We would like to inform you that today, August 6, 2020, trial operation commenced of demonstration facilities built to demonstrate the commercial applications of V2G (Vehicle to Grid) that leverages electric vehicles (hereinafter referred to as, “EV/PHEV”) as energy resources, an initiative that the Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc., TEPCO Energy Partner, Inc., TEPCO Power Grid, Inc., Mitsubishi Motors Corporation, Hitachi Systems Power Services, Ltd., and SHIZUOKA GAS CO., Ltd.(1) have been working on together.

Through this experiment we aim to demonstrate how EV/PHEV can be leveraged as VPP resources to enable us to balance the continual expansion of renewable energy sources (hereinafter referred to as, “RES”) with power grid stabilization. With our sights on FY2021, we are currently examining the construction and commercialization of Vehicle to Grid (V2G) systems that can adjust power demand/supply through bidirectionality with EV/PHEV storage batteries.

This demonstration project was commenced in FY2018 by METI, and this is the third year that the six companies mentioned above have participated in the project. During FY2018(2), the first year of the project, we constructed a demonstration environment to confirm that bidirectional power transfer is possible between EV/PHEV and power grids, and we confirmed that this can contribute to the power grid stability (announced on February 26, 2019). During FY2019(3), the second year of the project, we added approximately 40 EV/PHEV (for a total of 59 vehicles) and constructed one of the largest experiment environment in Japan. Furthermore, in light of the mobility needs of EV/PHEV, we enabled simultaneous control of EV/PHEV parked at the demonstration sites via an online system.

Going forward we shall continue to deliberate a V2G business model while also examining ways to refine V2G control in accordance with the business model, such as examining methods for backing up sudden mobility needs (for example fluctuation in the number of vehicles) (inter-site power transfer).

By effectively leveraging the storage batteries of EV/PHEV, the consortium aims to promote the use of RES in order to solve issues related to energy and the environment.

(1) Consortium Members (six companies)
Core companies:
– Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc.

Companies participating in the Demonstration Experiment:
– TEPCO Energy Partner, Inc.
– TEPCO Power Grid, Inc.
– Mitsubishi Motors Corporation

Companies participating in the demonstration experiment and serving as resource aggregators (one company):
– Hitachi Systems Power Services, Ltd.

Resource aggregators (one company):
– SHIZUOKA GAS CO., Ltd.

(2) FY2018 Demonstration Project for the Construction of a Virtual Power Plant that Utilizes Demand-Side Energy Resources (VPP Aggregation Project)
(3) FY2019 Demonstration Project for the Construction of a Virtual Power Plant that Utilizes Demand-Side Energy Resources (VPP Aggregation Project)

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About Mitsubishi Motors

Mitsubishi Motors Corporation is a global automobile company based in Tokyo, Japan, which has a competitive edge in SUVs and pickup trucks, electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles. The company launched the i-MiEV – the first mass-produced electric vehicle in 2009, which was followed by the OUTLANDER PHEV in 2013 – a plug-in hybrid market leader in Japan and Europe. Mitsubishi Motors has 30,000 employees and a global footprint with production facilities in Japan, Thailand, China, Indonesia, the Philippines and Russia. Models, such as the PAJERO SPORT/MONTERO SPORT, TRITON/L200, OUTLANDER, ASX/OUTLANDER SPORT/RVR and XPANDER play a major role in achieving its growth. The global sales volume in fiscal year 2019 was 1,127,000 units, and the net sales of Mitsubishi Motors for fiscal year 2018 was 2.27 trillion yen. Mitsubishi Motors is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

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