As a part of its expansion plans in the solar energy business, Hamburg-based investment management company Aquila Capital has plans to add a battery storage business in the country.
Alexander Lenz, CEO of Aquila’s Asia Pacific region, said, “In Japan, we started with the first acquisition, which is currently under construction – a solar project – but we are now looking forward to also focusing on battery energy storage systems.”
Lenz said that Aquila, in which Japan’s Daiwa Securities Group Inc has a 40 percent stake, is targeting the battery storage business to allocate solar power and stand-alone batteries to balance power fluctuations.
It should be noted that Japan targets to have 36 per cent-38 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by the end of this decade. It also has an ambitious goal to be carbon neutral by 2050, and to this end, companies are expanding in areas from wind and solar power to battery storage.
With the Asia Pacific region expanding its tentacles in renewables, Lenz sees great potential for battery storage as nations need time to upgrade their grids to rising renewable energy volumes.
“I strongly believe that batteries will be much more important than everyone thinks… I think batteries have a bigger potential in the short term (compared to solar),” he said.
Earlier this month, Aquila Capital secured a 3 billion yen ($21.5 million) loan from Japan’s Ashikaga Bank for a solar power project in Japan’s Chiba prefecture. He further informed that Aquila plans to start commercial operations at its first Japan solar project in Chiba prefecture in the third quarter of this year. However, without providing details, he also disclosed its solar project acquisition in South Korea.
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