Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc. (TEPCO HD) and Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) have developed a stationary storage battery system (1 MW output, 3 MWh capacity) that combines TEPCO's operating technology and safety standards for stationary storage batteries and Toyota's system technology for electrified vehicle storage batteries.
Tokyo Gas is also participating in the Japanese utility-scale battery energy storage system (BESS) market, signing a 20-year tolling offtake deal with Australian developer Eku Energy for a forthcoming 30MW/120MWh project.
Does Japan need battery energy storage?
A Growing Need for Energy Storage The increasing generation of renewables on the Japanese grid has led to various support policies and CAPEX subsidy schemes to support the deployment of grid-scale Battery Energy Storage (BESS).
Several megawatt-hours of residential battery storage systems, typically paired with solar PV, are being installed in Japan on a monthly basis. This is largely due to concerns about losing power at home, given the seismic activity the country is frequently subject to, as well as extreme weather events like typhoons.
These are the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) and the Tokyo prefectural subsidies. There are a series of requirements to be eligible: projects must have a minimum capacity of 1 MW, the battery must be able to participate in various markets, and the battery must be directly connected to the grid. The Market for Energy Storage
In the commercial space, Japan's battery storage market was valued at USD 593.2 million in 2023 and is projected to reach USD 4.15 billion by 2030. While commercial installations currently dominate revenues, industrial adoption is expected to scale faster. Utility-scale storage is also gaining ground.
Which companies are launching a battery balancing programme in Tokyo?
Another Tokyo-headquartered utility, Tokyo Gas, also began a similar programme with residential batteries. The company markets and installs battery storage systems to households, and also has a new solutions service, branded Igniture, which controls the charging and discharging to participate in power supply-demand balancing.