ITOCHU Corporation (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo; President & COO: Keita Ishii) has agreed to a strategic business partnership with Enphase Energy Inc. (Headquarters: California, USA; President and CEO: Badri Kothandaraman) to promote the sales and marketing of Enphase’s microinverters for solar panels in the Japanese market.
ITOCHU has been actively involved in various decentralized energy initiatives, combining renewable energy generation for residential and industrial use, energy storage for grid balancing, and energy management solutions for power exchange between consumers.
Enphase is the leading U.S. manufacturer of microinverters for residential solar power systems, with over 4.5 million households in more than 160 countries having purchased and installed solar systems using Enphase microinverters.
With the mandatory installation of solar power systems for new homes in Tokyo starting in April 2025, the adoption of decentralized energy sources is expected to accelerate. However, installing traditional string inverters on residential rooftops in urban areas has presented challenges, such as limited roof space and roofs with less sunlight. By adopting microinverters, these issues can be addressed, enabling more efficient power generation and flexible installation plans.
Starting with Tokyo, where the need for widespread adoption of solar power systems is particularly urgent, we aim to expand sales nationwide within fiscal year 2025.
ITOCHU has put forth the management policy "The Brand-new Deal: profit opportunities are shifting downstream." and is developing our business areas by tracking needs as they diversify with social changes and by pioneering and evolving downstream businesses that are closer to the consumers. By introducing Enphase's innovative products, we aim to maximize power generation from limited rooftop spaces and integrate them with our existing decentralized power generation and energy management solutions using storage batteries. This will help us realize a society where green power circulates efficiently and effectively.
