
Osaka Gas, JFE Engineering, Mizuho Lease’s wholly-owned subsidiary ML Power, and Kyushu Steel will establish a joint venture, Takeo Grid Storage LLC, to develop and operate a 2MW/8MWh grid-connected battery storage facility in Takeo City, Saga Prefecture.
Takeo Grid Storage Plant, which will spread across a 600-square-meter plot of land located on the premises of Kyushu Steel’s Saga Factory jointly owned by Kiyomoto Iron & Machinery Works and its subsidiary Kiyomoto Transport, is expected to be commissioned during fiscal year 2025 (April 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026). It will use lithium iron phosphate (LFP) lithium-ion batteries.
The owners will use the facility to trade power on Japan’s wholesale, balancing, and capacity markets.
Osaka Gas will be responsible for operating the batteries and trading, JFE Engineering will provide owner’s engineering services, and Kyushu Steel will help coordinate the project with the landowners, which include its parent company. ML Power will conduct business feasibility studies and provide the operating companies with, presumably financial, support.
Previously, Osaka Gas partnered Itochu and Tokyo Century on a 11MW/23MWh battery storage facility which is expected to come online in the first half of calendar 2025. The Takeo Grid Storage Plant project is JFE Engineering’s second grid-scale storage project as well.