SoftBank to Build Solar Power Plant With Battery Storage in Japan

By Prei Dy, | April 28, 2017

Softbank is eyeing another vast solar power plant in Japan. (YouTube)

Softbank is eyeing another vast solar power plant in Japan. (YouTube)

SoftBank Group is planning to construct another large solar power plant in northern Japan, and it plans to equip it with enough battery storage to integrate the renewable energy output into the local grid.

The project, expected to be worth around $179 million, will generate about 65,000 KW of electricity and is anticipated to store about 17,500 kilowatt-hours. This is sufficient to power around 1,700 households per day, making it one of the biggest storage systems for solar power in Japan.

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The power will be sold to local utilities following the rates under the government's feed-in tariff scheme, according to Nikkei Asian Review. The power production is slated to start in the 2020 fiscal year.

SB Energy, Softbank's subsidiary, will collaborate with Mitsubishi UFJ Lease & Finance to realize the project in Abira, Hokkaido. SoftBank also revealed that it plans to build more storage-equipped solar farms soon.

Last week, SB Energy teamed up with the Japanese subsidiary of Chicago-based Invernergy to jointly develop, finance, construct, and operate two solar projects in Nagano and Fukushima prefectures. Fukushima's Queens Solar Farm is expected to generate 10.5 MW of solar power, while Nagano's Koumi Kogen Solar Farm will produce 10.4 MW of solar power once all start full operation.

Both plants would enter into service by fiscal 2018. Invernergy Japan holds a 60 percent stake in each of the two project companies, while SB Energy owns the rest of the shares. The move marks Invenergy's first major commercial transaction in Japan.

Invenergy has been working to advance the development of about 250 MW of solar and wind projects under Japan's feed-in tariff (FiT) program. SB Energy, on the other hand, has developed about 375 MW of solar and wind schemes after it was founded in 2011. The two companies are planning to develop more projects together soon.


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