Hitachi Ltd and Tokyo Electric Power Co have set up a joint-venture consulting firm to design advanced power transmission and distribution systems for overseas companies including smart technology for grid balancing based on battery systems.
The new company is capitalised at about 50 million yen, with Hitachi owning slightly more than 80%, with the rest held by Tepco. The company was due to open for business in April and is aiming for annual sales of about 1 billion yen.
Hitachi believes the consulting venture with Tepco will lead to more orders for its own products, including substations. The consultancy will mainly target power companies in Southeast Asia and India, but will also seek business from utilities in the USA, Europe and other developed markets.
Tepco had plans, before the 2011 disaster at its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, to take part in an overseas nuclear power project. Under a new business plan, compiled in November of last year, Tepco has set a target of boosting annual sales from its overseas consulting business to 2 billion yen by 2020. The joint venture with Hitachi marks the utility’s first overseas push since the Fukushima incident.
