Toyota drives renewable energy forward with a virtual power plant

Toyota, together with its Turbine and Systems division, and the companies Denso Corporation and Chubu Electric Power, have launched the creation of a virtual power plant that will be located at the Japanese firm’s plant, with the aim of increasing the production and consumption of renewable energy.

The virtual power plant will serve to launch an innovative energy management system that will use information and communication technologies (ICT) to create an infrastructure that contributes to more efficient use of energy. The electricity generated by the virtual plant will be offered to general distributors to study the development of this system, which will help improve the electricity grid.

The project will consist of regulating electricity demand according to the supply of electricity generated from solar, wind and biomass sources.

The data on energy resources provided by the end user will flow into the virtual power plant, with the aim of verifying the feasibility of consuming renewable energy without carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions.

The project will use consumption data from hybrid vehicles, heat pumps, water heaters, and other appliances in homes and businesses to coordinate demand according to the supply of electricity generated from renewable sources. This will serve, among other things, to control charging times for electrified vehicles.

The city of Toyota in Japan wants to serve as a model of an environmentally sustainable locality, and has adopted an action plan to reduce CO₂ emissions by 30% by 2020 (compared with 1990). Therefore, Toyota and the four companies involved plan to drive the project forward until March 2020, seeking the creation of new activities that will help achieve a low-carbon country.