
On December 1, 2024, Kansai Electric Power and Orix commissioned the 48MW/113MWh “Kinokawa Power Storage Plant,” which is both companies’ first grid-scale BESS facility to come online.
The project, announced in July 2022, is owned by Kinokawa Chikudensho LLC, a 50:50 joint venture between the two companies. Kansai EPCO, through its wholly-owned subsidiary E-Flow, will be responsible for the battery’s power trading on the wholesale, balancing, and capacity markets. Orix Renewable Energy Management will be responsible for the plant’s operation and maintenance (O&M).
When first announced, Kansai EPCO and Orix were planning to commission the facility built on an approximately 8,000 square meter plot of land in Kinokawa City, Wakayama Prefecture, in April 2024. Engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) was handled by Kinden, a Kansai EPCO group company. The storage plant uses 64 TMEIC containerized batteries.
Orix is currently developing another, larger “Maihara Koto East Storage Plant” in Maihara City, Shiga Prefecture. It recently announced Toshiba Plant Systems & Services as the EPC contractor for the 134MW/548MWh project, which it plans to commission in late 2026.