August 9, 2024: Eku Energy, an energy storage firm, has completed financing on its first BESS project in Japan, the company confirmed on August 1.

Eku is jointly owned by Australia’s Macquarie Asset Management (MAM) fund and Canada’s British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI).

In April the company announced its first project in Japan to build a 30MW/120MWh battery energy storage system in Miyazaki City on the southern island of Kyushu. At the time the firm said they had agreed a 20-year offtake agreement for the project with Tokyo Gas. 

Construction is to starts in the second half of 2024 and the BESS to begin operating in July 2026. Once live, it will be capable of storing enough electricity to power approximately 63,000 households for four hours.

“There are certain major milestones to hit until a utility-scale battery energy storage system is ready to support the grid and be a major contributor to the energy transition. Financial close is certainly one of those,” Eku Energy said. In view of the successful project financing, the company said it is on track to hit all future milestones as planned.