Shizen Connect

About Shizen Connect

Shizen Connect Inc. is a technology company spun out from its parent, Shizen Energy Inc., in October 2023 to accelerate its energy tech business. The parent company, Shizen Energy, was founded in June 2011 by Ken Isono, Kenji Kawado, and Masaya Hasegawa, three months after the Great East Japan Earthquake, with the purpose of creating a more sustainable future. Shizen Connect is led by CEO Munekazu Matsumura and COO Takanori Anbo. The company's core offering is "Shizen Connect," an aggregation energy management system that functions as a Virtual Power Plant (VPP) platform. This system uses proprietary IoT and AI technology to collectively control a wide range of distributed energy resources (DERs), including residential and grid-scale storage batteries, electric vehicles (EVs), EV chargers, and EcoCute heat pump water heaters. By aggregating and managing these decentralized assets, the platform can operate as if it were a single, large power plant, helping to balance electricity supply and demand. Key functionalities include remote monitoring, AI-based forecasting of electricity market prices, peak demand shaving, microgrid construction, and control for various electricity markets. Shizen Connect operates on a B2B and B2B2C business model, providing its VPP technology as a SaaS platform to partners rather than directly to end-consumers. Its clients include major utility companies, electricity retailers, and equipment manufacturers. The platform is vendor-agnostic, allowing for integration with equipment from various manufacturers, which enhances flexibility and economic efficiency for its partners. The company has established capital and business alliances with numerous major corporations, including several of Japan's largest electric power companies like JERA, TEPCO, and Osaka Gas, which also utilize the platform for their VPP services. Shizen Connect aims to build a 1GW VPP with its partners and achieve sales of 10 billion yen by 2030. The platform has been adopted for multiple use cases, such as providing demand response services for electricity retailers, managing grid storage battery projects, and enabling remote electricity measurement for EV installation support services. The company has successfully conducted one of Japan's largest VPP demonstrations using residential EVs and has seen its technology featured by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) as a key environmental technology. Keywords: Virtual Power Plant, VPP, energy management system, EMS, distributed energy resources, DER, aggregation, IoT, AI, grid balancing, demand response, storage batteries, electric vehicles, microgrids, SaaS, EnergyTech, smart grid, renewable energy integration, peak shaving, electricity market