Itochu is also immersed in VPP research that is core for V2G.
Note that it also covers battery/ion/lithium supply .
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March 16 (Renewables Now) - Japanese general trader Itochu Corp (TYO:8001) has closed its previously announced investment of CAD 5 million (USD 3.6m/EUR 3.2m) in Canadian energy storage systems developer Eguana Technologies Inc (CVE:EGT).
The strategic investment was in the form of unsecured convertible debentures offered by Calgary-based Eguana, with a maturity of three years.
As previously mentioned, Eguana will use the proceeds to finance working capital and general corporate expenditures.
Eguana has an existing relationship with Itochu that includes the integration of Moxia Energy Holding's artificial intelligence (AI) software with the Eguana Evolve platform, to be exclusive to resale by the Japanese trader.
Eguana noted that the new product will be certified with a full suite of virtual power plant (VPP) features supporting fleet aggregation and residential applications.
“The Moixa GridShare AI integration and testing with our Eguana Evolve is on schedule to complete later this month and will be available for field trials in April.
The new product will open additional third-party ownership (TPO) and fleet aggregation channels through our strategic partnership with Itochu,” said Justin Holland, Eguana’s CEO.
The two parties have also agreed that Itochu will be in charge of procuring for and supplying Eguana the needed lithium batteries for the production of its offerings.
According to Holland, moving the supply chain over to Itochu “will further reduce up front working capital requirements and bring consistency to our battery module availability as we continue to ramp up operations and clear back logged orders in Hawaii, California, and South Australia.”