In Japan’s first competitive auctions for low-carbon energy capacity, more than a gigawatt of bids from battery storage project developers have been successful.
The awarded contracts total 1.67GW, including 32 battery energy storage system (BESS) projects totalling 1.1GW and three pumped hydro energy storage (PHES) projects totalling 577MW. These were part of a pool of almost 4.6GW qualifying bids.
The ‘Long-term Decarbonisation Power Source Auction’, launched in January by the Organisation for Cross-regional Coordination of Transmission Operators (OCCTO), announced results on April 30th.
The auction offered 20-year fixed revenue capacity market contracts with utility companies for non-emitting power resources, with ongoing auctions now seeking 4GW.
Successful bids from eligible low-carbon technologies will receive an annual budget of ¥233b, including:
- Nuclear
- Biomass
- Ammonia co-firing
- Hydrogen co-firing generation
- Gas-fired capacity from liquid natural gas (LNG).
The largest BESS contract, amounting to 96.2MW, was awarded to Orix Corporation’s clean energy development project Maibara City Koto Energy Storage.
Renova, a developer of renewable energy assets in Japan and Asia, secured three contracts totalling 215MW.
Nozomi Energy, backed by global investment group Actis, attained two contracts totalling 74MW with an initial installed capacity of “close to 200MWh”, according to the company.
