Developer Akaysha and Japanese conglomerate Itochu partner on battery storage projects

LinkedIn
Twitter
Reddit
Facebook
Email

Blackrock-owned developer Akaysha and Japanese conglomerate Itochu have entered into a strategic alliance to develop battery storage projects in Japan.

The pair have entered into a strategic alliance agreement to collaborate in the area of utility-scale energy storage, they announced last week (8 September).

The alliance will see Akaysha and the Itochu Corporation promote the development of energy storage projects in Japan and also co-operate to expand the activity overseas, including in Australia.

Japanese financial paper Nikkei reported that the two companies aim to develop battery storage projects at 10-20 locations mainly in Japan, while Itochu is targeting up to 20 large-scale projects in Japan by 2030.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Enjoy 12 months of exclusive analysis

Not ready to commit yet?
  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Annual digital subscription to the PV Tech Power journal
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

Itochu is aiming to grow the energy storage business in Japan to 1GWh of capacity and US$678 million (JPY100 billion) in value, capturing 10-20% of the domestic market share.

Itochu Corporation is one of Japan’s seven major sogo shosha conglomerates with specialisms in textiles, machinery, metals and minerals, energy, food and general products. The firm is already a leading seller of residential energy storage systems in Japan while this year partnered with a utility in Osaka to deploy an 11MW/23MWh in the prefecture.

Akaysha is an Australia-based battery storage developer owned by the world’s largest asset manager Blackrock. It is most well-known for the Waratah Super Battery, a 850MW/1680MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) in New South Wales, which has been described as the largest single-phase BESS project in the world.

Itochu has installed over 600MWh of energy storage products to-date while Akaysha is targeting 10GWh of energy storage projects.

Read Next

September 18, 2025
Hydrostor has secured US$55 million in funding from Export Development Canada (EDC) to advance development activities for its 200MW/1,600MWh Silver City Energy Storage Centre project in Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia.
September 17, 2025
Chinese PV module manufacturer Trina Solar has received the green light from the Victoria government in Australia to build a 500MW/1,000MWh battery energy storage system (BESS).
September 17, 2025
Australia’s Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS) has awarded 4.13GW/15.37GWh of battery storage capacity in its third tender round, exceeding initial targets and attracting 135GWh of bids.
Premium
September 15, 2025
China again dominated global battery storage deployments in August, accounting for two-thirds of what came online, but Europe, North America and Oceania/Australia had good months too.
September 15, 2025
Hithium will supply battery storage and SMA the power conversion systems for a 500MWh grid-forming project in Australia for Fotowatio Renewable Ventures (FRV).

Most Popular

Email Newsletter