British and Irish BESS investors make big moves in Japan

UK BESS investor Gore Street Capital has acquired its first asset in Japan through what it claims is the country’s first dedicated energy storage fund. The acquisition was made under the Toyko Energy Storage Investment Limited Partnership with Itochu Corporation. The fund has acquired a 20 MW/80MWh project in Kasama City, Ibaraki Prefecture.

The Kasama project has been sized to qualify for Japan’s long term decarbonization power source auction, a support program similar to capacity markets seen in other countries, according to Gore Street Capital. This would allow the project to secure long-term contracted income to complement a predominantly merchant revenue model.

Based in the United Kingdom, Gore Street Capital is active in six markets and has 28 projects in its portfolio, with 1.25 GW of total capacity in power output terms, according to the fund’s website.

Irish energy management business GridBeyond has also stepped up its activity in Japan’s BESS market. GridBeyond has entered energy trading in Japan using a front-of-the-meter battery asset. Announced at the Ireland Innovation Seminar hosted at the Embassay of Ireland in Tokyo, GridBeyond and Japanese partner PORT Inc have brought a 2 MW/8MWh BESS online in Gunma Prefecture. It is GridBeyond’s first trading project in Japan, and the company said it will serve as “a launchpad” for a broader portfolio of BESS projects scheduled to go live between 2025 and 2028.

In a press release, Atsushi Ito, country manager for the company’s Japanese entity Gridbeyond GK, said that in addition to grid battery operations, “we are rolling out strategies that support flexibility on both the supply and demand sides, such as CHP optimization, demand response using data centers, and AI-powered energy asset management.”