Previously more popular with tourists and pilgrims, the base of Japan’s Mount Fuji could soon become a mecca for energy storage researchers.
Moves to make the area Asia’s answer to Silicon Valley began with the building of a 1MW solar power station in Kofu City, Yamanashi, a prefecture 63 miles west of Tokyo.
The station is available to Japan’s energy storage developers, such as battery making behemoth Panasonic, to run tests under closed conditions.
Railway Technical Research Institute— the technical research group under Japan Railways group— is already testing a flywheel system in rolling stock at the site.
Last November, energy management start-up Exergy Power Systems added a system based on a nickel metal hydride battery at the site.
According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, Japan is among the top markets for energy storage and is set to boast cumulative energy storage of 7,440MW by 2024, up from 847MW in 2016.
