Publication date: Feb 20, 2025

Demonstration Project Combines Solar Power With Grid Storage Batteries

Kyuden Mirai Energy, a Kyushu EPCo subsidiary, has announced that it will conduct a demonstration operation of grid storage batteries in conjunction with solar power generation facilities in Omura City, Nagasaki Prefecture, in FY2025. The company will verify a scheme in which solar power is stored in batteries during the day, and then discharged and sold in the evening. It will also test a business model for optimal operation in both the wholesale power market and the supply-demand adjustment market under the FIP (Feed-in-Premium) system.

Power-X storage batteries with an output of 1990 kW and a rated capacity of 7404 kWh will be installed and operated on the premises of the company’s Omura Mega Solar No. 4 site. It will be the first ‘multi-use operation’ in Japan to trade with the wholesale electricity market and the supply and demand adjustment market for grid storage batteries with solar power.

Project’s Long-Term Goals and METI Support

The project envisions converting Omura Mega Solar No. 4 from FIT (Feed-in Tariff) to FIP and accumulating know-how on solar power generation forecasting and planning, including recharging and discharging storage batteries and profitable market transactions. The company further aims to utilize its know-how to take on contracts for the operation of facilities with storage batteries, with an eye on power generation companies with graduated FIT solar facilities.

The demonstration period is one year, and it is expected to be operated for about ten more years after that. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) subsidizes the project  under ‘FY2024 Support for the Introduction of Storage Batteries with Renewable Energy Sources’. The investment is approximately JPY 400 million, excluding subsidies.

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