Japanese Energy Firms Collaborate To Meet Rising Clean Energy Demands

Itochu Corp of Japan announced on Wednesday the establishment of a power storage firm alongside Osaka Gas Co and Tokyo Century Corp, as the country's rise of renewable energy increases demand for storage capacity.

Itochu said in a statement that the joint venture would begin construction of large-scale lithium ion storage batteries in Osaka prefecture in the first half of the current fiscal year, with a target launch date of fiscal year 2025.

Batteries are important to Japan's goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050, as they are used to smooth out swings in renewable energy generation.

The project will have a capacity of 23 megawatt hours and an output of 11 megawatts, with Itochu providing storage batteries and construction, Osaka Gas trading power, and Tokyo Century managing the company.

Japan plans to invest more than $24 billion in both public and private sectors to build local battery production capacity of 150 gigawatt hours (GWh) by 2030, including for electric vehicles, and global production capacity of 600 GWh by Japanese firms.