April 21, 2023: Battery materials company Cabot said on April 13 it had bought a solar farm in Japan to expand into renewable power generation.

Cabot has acquired the Chiba facility near its carbon black manufacturing plant from Shoko Co for an undisclosed sum.

Cabot will provide solar power to the region’s grid from Chiba, which has an annual electricity generating capacity of up to 3,500MWh, which Cabot said is equivalent to powering more than 700 homes a year.

In addition, Cabot said the solar farm will support its sustainability program, which includes converting waste heat from production processes into energy.

By utilizing energy co-generation such as this, Cabot said a series of energy centers across its facilities in Japan could generate a combined total of around 172,000MWh per year, equivalent to powering over 36,000 homes in Japan annually, the company said.

Cabot aims to export twice the amount of energy that it imports by 2025.

Bart Kalkstein, Cabot’s executive VP and president of the firm’s reinforcement materials unit said: “As an industry leader, we are making proactive investments in renewable energy sources, such as this solar farm, that can be exported to nearby businesses and communities.”

Cabot told Batteries International last month that the firm remained committed to supporting development of next-generation lead batteries while also opening a new lab in Germany to help boost lithium battery tech for EVs.