Eku Energy breaks ground for Hirohara BESS project

About one-third of Miyazaki City's population will benefit from this.

Eku Energy’s Japanese subsidiary has conducted the groundbreaking ceremony for the Hirohara battery energy storage system (BESS) in Oh-Aza Hirohara, Miyazaki City, Miyazaki Prefecture.

In a statement, the company said the Hirohara BESS has a rated output of 30 megawatts and a storage capacity of 120 megawatt-hours. It can provide four hours of electricity to approximately 63,000 households, which is about one- third of Miyazaki City's population.

Construction is scheduled to begin in fall 2024, with commercial operations expected to commence in 2026. 

As the asset owner, Eku Energy will oversee construction and operations of the facility. Meanwhile, the Hirohara BESS will supply Tokyo Gas with electricity for 20 years.

“As Hirohara BESS is just about to commence construction, we are exploring new opportunities to grow our footprint in the region with our Tokyo based team of specialist experts to help Japan reach net zero in 2050,” said Kentaro Ono, managing director of Japan at Eku Energy.

Japan’s battery energy storage market is expected to grow by a compound annual growth rate of around 17.5% over the next six years. The country’s installed capacity of large-scale energy storage is expected to increase from approximately 4 gigawatts (GW) /10 gigawatt-hours (GWh) in 2022 to about 10 GW/27GWh in 2030.