The Enel Group’s new advanced energy services division Enel X, through its US demand response services company EnerNOC, was awarded the delivery of 165 MW of demand response resources in Japan following the completion of a tender for balancing reserves launched by a group of Japanese utilities.
As a result of this award, which confirms Enel as the largest independent demand response aggregator in Japan, the Group will nearly triple its virtual power plant in the Japanese market, reaching approximately 165 MW from the current 60 MW, equivalent to a market share of 17%, when the new programmes begin in July 2018
“This award further secures our growing presence in the demand response market, on the heels of our recent success in Ireland’s first capacity market auction, and confirms us as a leading provider of advanced energy management solutions,” said Francesco Venturini, Head of Enel X. “With this tender, we look forward to providing Japan’s increasingly competitive energy market with our expert service offerings to support a stable power supply in the country.”
Through the award, Enel will manage electricity demand from large industrial and commercial customers connected to the utilities’ grids, informing those customers when the network needs them to reduce their power consumption, creating a balancing reserve that will help increase the awarding utilities’ grid stability.
This recent tender is part of Japan’s market liberalisation effort currently underway and a transitional step towards a market for ancillary services, which is expected to be in place by 2020. Enel’s subsidiary EnerNOC has been present in Japan since 2013 via its joint venture with Marubeni Corporation, one of the largest trading firms in Japan.
Demand response programmes are set up to pay large energy consumers, such as manufacturing facilities, data centres, and commercial real estate companies, to adjust their energy consumption by either reducing or increasing their power consumption, with the aim to stabilise the grid. Demand response provides greater grid flexibility, stability, and more efficient use of power infrastructure, with a view to help maintain electricity prices as low as possible for all consumers. This demand response programme pays users for being on standby ready to respond in the event of a grid emergency, as well as providing incremental payments if and when they are dispatched.