On March 12, 2021, Shikoku Electric Power (Yonden, Headquarters: Takamatsu City, Kagawa Pref.) announced that it has invested in LO3 Energy, a Portland, Oregon-based venture company that provides a next-generation electricity trading platform. This will be Yonden’s first investment in an international startup.

In recent years, the movement towards decentralization has accelerated various changes in the energy sector. Yonden sees this as a business opportunity, aiming to develop new services by leveraging DER (Distributed Energy Resources) technologies. LO3 Energy has had extensive experience in developing cloud-based trading platforms that enable electricity trading among DERs in the United States and Europe. Through this investment, Yonden hopes to gain new knowledge and expertise in digital trading platforms from LO3 Energy, and will expand its platform business in Japan to promote P2P electricity trading among consumers who own and operate renewable energy sources. Yonden will continue to seek and build the next growth engine for their business expansion by aggressively investing in venture companies that can be expected to take advantage of the synergistic benefits derived from the deal.[1]

[1] https://www.yonden.co.jp/press/2020/__icsFiles/afieldfile/2021/03/12/pr002.pdf