Itochu & Akaysha to develop 1GWh of storage in Japan

Japanese trading house Itochu has entered into a partnership with Australian battery storage operator Akaysha Energy with a view to  developing up to 20 large-scale batteries, predominately  in Japan,  by 2030.

Warren Buffett-backed Itochu expects the business to achieve a value of up to 100 billion yen ($678 million) by the end of the decade. The target is to develop 1 GWh of battery storage, with the aim of capturing a 10-20 per cent share of the domestic energy storage market.

Akaysha, a subsidiary of US asset management company BlackRock, is currently constructing an energy storage facility with a capacity of over 1,680 MWh in Australia, which is scheduled to begin operations in 2025.

The development of a 50 MWh battery costs roughly 5 billion yen ($34 million). It is understood that the Japanese government is planning to provide sizeable subsidies amounting to around half of  Itochu's budget.

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