
Mitsubishi HC Capital Energy and South Korea’s Samsung C&T Corporation signed a joint venture agreement related to the development of a grid-scale battery project in the Hokkaido TSO area, the two companies announced on August 6, 2024.
The 25MW/50MWh battery storage facility, which will be located in Kamiosatsu, Chitose City, Hokkaido, will be owned and operated by Kamiosatsu Hikari Power Storage LLC, a special purpose entity (SPE) that is 90% owned by Mitsubishi HC Capital Energy and 10% owned by Samsung. Mitsubishi HC Capital Energy will be responsible for the project development and management while Samsung will be responsible for engineering.
According to the statement, Mitsubishi HC Capital Energy plans to outsource the operation of the batteries and power trading on the capacity, wholesale, and balancing markets to Osaka Gas.
Construction of the facility is expected to begin in April 2025. Commercial operations are expected to start in January 2027.
The battery storage power plant to be built in Kamiosatsu is Mitsubishi HC Capital Energy’s first grid-scale battery project.
That said, the company owns over 600MW of renewable assets (adjusted for ownership percentage of SPEs) in Japan, both monetized through the country’s feed-in-tariff scheme, as well as through PPAs. The Japan Energy Hub PPA database shows that, among others, the company signed a 20MW with Tokyu Corporation through an SPE owned jointly by the offtaker.