ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Keita Ishii, President & COO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) announced today that it has signed capital and business alliances with Clean Energy Connect Co., Ltd. (headquartered in Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo; Teppei Uchida, Representative Director; hereinafter, "CEC") in which it will subscribe to shares CEC will issue by means of a private placement. Through these alliances, ITOCHU aims to be one of the largest Corporate PPA operators in Japan and accelerate its ongoing initiatives in renewable energy and power storage networks, in an efforts to build a platform for distributed power supply from renewable energy sources.

In the sixth Energy Basic Plan, the government announced a target of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 and new greenhouse gas emission reduction targets for 2030. While the introduction of more photovoltaic power plants is seen as a challenge to overcome to achieve these targets, the effective use of land in a limited national territory is required.
In the shift to a decarbonized society, the supply of green power from photovoltaic power plants with additionality ^*1 is required. Moves to procure power from renewable energy sources through off-site Corporate Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs),^*2 which permit direct contribution, have been spreading among companies in Japan and other countries.

CEC aggregates green power by developing and owning multiple medium- and small-sized photovoltaic power plants by making effective use of land in Japan and then provides downtown office buildings and other customers with electricity and environmental value over the long term. While the means of procuring renewable energy are growing more complex, CEC has the advantage of being a one-stop provider of green solutions, from planning the optimal introduction of green power for each corporate customer to support for the implementation and verification of effects and target achievement after the introduction. It has so far signed off-site Corporate PPAs in Japan with The Dai-ichi Life Insurance Company, Limited, Shimizu Corporation, and other companies. Further expansion of its scale of operation is expected by a wide range of companies striving to achieve decarbonization, including RE100 member companies.

ITOCHU will support the development with solar power generation engineering companies and drive fund procurement from financial institutions, thus advancing CEC's business model integrating the acquisition and possession of photovoltaic power plants and power supply from them and promoting the supply of green power with additionality. Through CEC, ITOCHU will introduce photovoltaic power plants with additionality in approx. 5,000 locations in Japan with a cumulative total output of 500 MW by 2025, aiming to be one of the largest Corporate PPA operators in Japan.
Moving forward, ITOCHU will drive the spread of distributed power supply using renewable energy in Japan in the aspects of both on-site photovoltaic power plants (using rooftop space) operated by i GRID SOLUTIONS, Inc., a capital and business alliance partner, and off-site photovoltaic power plants operated by CEC. Thus, ITOCHU will move ahead with businesses that contribute to "realizing business transformation by shifting to a market-oriented perspective" and "enhancing our contribution to and engagement with the SDGs through business activities," basic policies under its medium-term management plan, toward realizing a decarbonized society and a sustainable society.