trending Market Intelligence /marketintelligence/en/news-insights/trending/5f_k39el9ij3xk7fw6mtxg2 content esgSubNav
In This List

Japan's TEPCO launches global business expansion effort

Podcast

Next in Tech | Episode 49: Carbon reduction in cloud

Blog

Using ESG Analysis to Support a Sustainable Future

Research

US utility commissioners: Who they are and how they impact regulation

Blog

Q&A: Datacenters: Energy Hogs or Sustainability Helpers?


Japan's TEPCO launches global business expansion effort

Executives from Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc introduced plans to expand the Japanese utility's global presence, focusing largely on international renewable investments to capture new growth outside Japan.

The company, or TEPCO, the chief utility serving Tokyo's broader metropolitan area and operators of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, is turning its strategic eye abroad to tap new growth. In a Feb. 26 announcement, TEPCO President Tomoaki Kobayakawa pointed to the deregulation of Japan's energy markets and declining population growth as impetus for the company's pivot into foreign markets.

The strategy will focus mainly on new renewable investments, building on an existing international joint-venture with Chubu Electric Power Co. on JERA Co., Inc., which serves as the global wholesale energy commodities trading and investment vehicle for the two utilities. Most recently, JERA sold a 6% equity interest in the Cricket Valley Energy to the Development Bank of Japan for an undisclosed price, according to a Jan. 4 release.

That deal represents one piece of JERA's strategy that TEPCO may be looking to replicate in its renewable investments, namely carving off slivers of equity and reinvesting the proceeds in other projects to diversify revenues.

"Renewables are an essential component of our future," Kobayakawa said in a statement. "We believe we can scale up our renewables business to create a new source of revenue comparable to JERA."

Beyond renewables, TEPCO is also aiming to boost revenues through venture investments in new platform technologies. The utility on Jan. 19 announced it had made an early-stage investment in Electron, a U.K.-based energy blockchain transaction platform.

"We are witnessing a downsizing of Japan's energy market," Kobayakawa said. "The prospective market to generate new revenue is abroad. There are various business models abroad, and we believe we are able to address those [revenue] needs."