Toda Construction and Eurus Energy Begin Demonstration of System Integration for VPP Business

Toda Construction Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; President: Kiyosuke Otani; hereinafter "Toda Construction") and Eurus Energy Holdings Corporation (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director and President: Tetsuya Suwabe; hereinafter "Eurus Energy") have begun a demonstration of system integration and VPP (Virtual Power Plant) business utilizing customer-side storage batteries*1 and air conditioning equipment (hereinafter "this demonstration") at Toda Construction's Tsukuba Technical Research Institute (Tsukuba City, Ibaraki Prefecture), in anticipation of jointly implementing a future VPP business.

This demonstration will verify the economic viability of utilizing customer-side storage batteries and air conditioning equipment in the electricity market, aiming to establish a mechanism that simultaneously achieves reductions in customer electricity costs and stabilization of the power grid.

Figure: Scheme of this demonstration

*1 Customer-side storage batteries: Stationary storage batteries installed in facilities that consume electricity, such as factories and buildings, used to adjust the facility's power demand.

Background and Objectives Customer-side storage batteries have traditionally been used primarily for applications such as emergency power sources and peak shaving. In recent years, with the expansion of renewable energy introduction, VPPs, which control and aggregate these storage batteries as distributed resources and utilize them in the electricity market as a means of flexibly adjusting power supply and demand, have been gaining attention. In this demonstration, in addition to customer-side storage batteries, air conditioning equipment, which typically accounts for more than half of a facility's power consumption, will be positioned as a VPP resource, and the economic viability of its use in the electricity market will be verified.

Overview of this Demonstration and Roles of Both Companies In this demonstration, Toda Construction will install stationary storage batteries at the Tsukuba Technical Research Institute, newly develop a "Building Cloud" for facility power demand forecasting and air conditioning equipment control, and integrate it with the comprehensive VPP platform "ReEra" owned and operated by Eurus Energy. For the air conditioning equipment, a DR (Demand Response) function that adjusts power consumption according to power supply and demand will be built, and the surplus capacity available for the electricity market and the controllability will be verified. During periods without DR commands, this function will be diverted to energy-saving operation, achieving both DR and energy saving on a single system platform.

Role of Toda Construction: Toda Construction will be responsible for providing the demonstration site (Tsukuba Technical Research Institute) and developing and constructing the "Building Cloud." Leveraging its accumulated expertise in building equipment and energy management, it will implement optimal control of air conditioning equipment to adjust power consumption while considering indoor comfort.

Role of Eurus Energy: Eurus Energy will be responsible for setting up the environment for the comprehensive VPP platform "ReEra." Based on the knowledge cultivated in its grid-scale storage battery business, it will aim for optimal operation of the storage batteries.

Future Schedule and Outlook This demonstration is planned to be expanded in stages in line with the progress of Toda Construction's ongoing "Tsukuba Technical Research Institute New Development Plan."

<FY2026> Construction of Power Measurement Environment and Air Conditioning Control Demonstration From June onwards, an environment for detailed power measurement will be constructed in existing buildings, and curtailment control of air conditioning equipment will be implemented. The amount of change in power consumption and controllability when control commands are sent to actual equipment will be analyzed to determine the surplus capacity available for the electricity market.

<FY2027> System Integration and Storage Battery Installation Toda Construction will construct the power measurement and air conditioning control environment in the new building (Structural Materials Building) scheduled for completion at the end of FY2026, complete the development of the "Building Cloud," and implement system integration with Eurus Energy's "ReEra." Demonstration storage batteries will also be installed to establish an integrated control platform.

<FY2028 onwards> Entry into the Electricity Market While continuing demonstrations, the aim is to integrally control storage batteries and air conditioning equipment and enter the actual electricity market as a VPP resource.

Through this demonstration, both companies will accumulate operational data, aiming to develop the building energy management business and provide new energy solutions to customers.