As a new initiative, we are working on the energy storage plant business—which is gaining increasing popularity in Japan—and are advancing the construction of specific energy storage plants, including a project in Toyooka, Hyogo Prefecture, with the Kaneka Group; a project in Suita, Osaka Prefecture, with Osaka Gas and Tokyo Century Corporation; and a project in Fukuoka Prefecture, with the Tokyu Land Corporation Group. ITOCHU, in partnership with Gore Street Capital Limited, has been selected as a joint operator of a fund established by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to promote energy generation and storage. The fund has secured over eight billion yen from both public and private sources and has officially commenced operations, focusing primarily on investments in grid energy storage facilities.

In addition to the accumulation of these kinds of energy storage assets, we have also concluded a strategic capital and business alliance with UON Pty Ltd., an Australian off-grid decarbonized energy solutions provider, and are expanding our distributed power supply business operations in Japan to overseas markets. Going forward, we will continue working to create further synergies within the existing investment value chain, through a wide range of initiatives ranging from residential storage batteries to large-scale power plants, and both on-grid and off-grid solutions.
ITOCHU will continue to work with excellent partners in the evolution of its energy storage device business as we contribute to the realization of the efficient use of renewable energy, the stabilization of the power supply and the creation of a decarbonized society utilizing distributed energy.