<article><p class="lead">Japanese battery producer Power X and regional utility Kyushu Electric Power will jointly establish a new ocean power grid business to advance maritime power transmission using the Power X's battery tanker.</p><p>Power X and Kyushu Electric announced on 25 May that they signed an initial agreement to form the ocean power grid business, aimed at strengthening domestic renewable energy use. The business will capitalise on Power X's new technology for transporting electricity across oceans — the battery tanker. The vessel carries 96 storage batteries with a total capacity of 241MWh.</p><p>Japan aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, and raising renewable energy use is one way to meet this target. But limited capacity for transmitting electricity to and from other regional grid systems is one of the key challenges in promoting renewable energy uptake across the country.</p><p>"For example, Hokkaido has the potential to produce 930GW of renewable energy," said Power X. "But electricity demand within the region is small." Transporting excess electricity to other regions will raise energy efficiency, but transmission capacity to different regions is well below production levels, according to the battery company.</p><p>The battery tanker will deliver electricity and "maximise the utilisation of renewable energy across the country," Power X said. </p><p>Power X and Kyushu will jointly explore new ventures in this sector, as well as work on establishing a power purchase agreement.</p><p>Power X expects to start trial operations of the battery tanker by 2026, but the timing for commercial operations was undisclosed. "The onboard battery system is based on our proprietary module design, featuring safe and reliable lithium-iron phosphate battery cells that ensure a lifespan over 6,000 cycles," according to the company.</p><p><i>By Yusuke Maekawa</i></p></article>
