Smart Energy signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with PowerX to explore collaborating on battery storage retrofits of solar power plants, the companies announced on September 1, 2026.
According to the statements, under the tie-up, Smart Energy would identify and approach owners of suitable projects through the network it built through its solar power plant operations and maintenance (O&M) business, and handle O&M after installation. PowerX would supply its battery systems. The battery manufacturer and Smart Energy’s subsidiary Smart Energy Circular would jointly handle aggregation, with risk allocation decided on a per-project basis.
The companies aim to originate their first joint project by December 2026, about three by December 2027, and approximately 10 by December 2028. In addition to merchant contracts, they plan to offer fixed-price tolling agreements. They said that collaborating on aggregation would help them secure the scale and creditworthiness necessary to execute large contracts.
Smart Energy, which had over 4.83GW of solar capacity under O&M contracts as of January 2026, began offering such services for battery storage in February 2025 with an approximately 10MWh system co-located with an ENEOS Renewable Energy solar power plant. It established Smart Energy Circular in March 2026 to expand into aggregation.
PowerX delivered its first battery system for a solar power plant retrofit in June 2025 to an SMFL Mirai Partners asset in Fukuoka Prefecture. The manufacturer also secured a contract to supply equipment to and aggregate a 1.5MWAC project owned by Senko.
The MoU comes as owners of feed-in-tariff (FIT) solar plants, particularly in Kyushu, are increasingly retrofitting their projects with batteries and switching them to the feed-in-premium (FIP) scheme to minimize curtailment-related revenue losses and maximize the value of their assets.
