
Smart Solar selected Second Foundation as the aggregator for its upcoming 1.99MW/8.1MWh grid-scale BESS facility in Nogi Town, Tochigi Prefecture, the renewable developer announced earlier this month.
As part of the agreement, Czechia’s Second Foundation will be responsible for trading the facility’s power, primarily on the wholesale (JEPX) and balancing markets. In addition to developing the storage plant in the Tokyo TSO area, Smart Solar will also do the project’s engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC), and operation and maintenance (O&M). It did not disclose the project’s planned commissioning date.
According to Smart Solar’s statement, “[Second Foundation] excels at efficient operations through AI-based analysis and algorithmic trading, and has a proven track record in Europe. Going forward, we will be working on various joint projects to achieve our company’s mission of ‘delivering safe, clean energy from solar power and storage batteries to everyone at a lower cost than fossil fuel-based energy sources.'”
Second Foundation Japan, the Czech company’s Japan subsidiary, has a power retail license and is an aggregator registered with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). In July 2024, Second Foundation invested in the renewable energy services company IQg and established a joint venture with it focused on developing solar and BESS projects with the aim of expanding its presence in Japan.