Enel X Japan, the country’s largest independent demand response (DR) aggregator, is expanding its geographic reach to provide services to all of Japan this year. The company will provide DR and virtual power plant (VPP) services across new regions, aggregating even more energy load to provide critical services to the nation’s electricity grid.

Ushio Okuyama, Head of Enel X Japan, said: “We are proud to offer demand response services to Japan’s national electricity grid. Our portfolio for 2020 has exceeded 200 MW, and we now hold approximately 16% of the country’s demand response market. We work with commercial and industrial companies across Japan to better manage their energy use and support the grid. Businesses receive payments for making critical demand side resources available to the grid, which benefits the wider community.”

The Japanese DR program supports the electricity grid when power supply and demand is very tight, helping to avoid power outages. The local Enel X demand response business has grown from the Kyushu region in 2017 across the Tohoku, Tokyo and Kansai areas in 2019. This year the company will service the entire nation of Japan.

Enel X Japan’s DR program is open to large energy users across all regions. Industries well suited to DR include steel, chemical and metal manufacturing, pulp and paper, industrial gas, data centers and technology companies, as well as real estate.

With this expansion, the company recently opened a new office in Osaka, in addition to its head office in Tokyo. Enel X Japan will leverage on its operational experience to provide quality service to its existing and new customers.

DR programs encourage energy users to adjust their energy consumption in order to help stabilise the grid when requested by the system. Enel X Japan is a subsidiary of Enel X, the Enel Group advanced energy services company holding the leading position in DR programs globally, with more than 6.3 GW of capacity currently managed and assigned in the Americas, Europe, Asia and Oceania.