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As previously reported, NTT and Tokyo Electric Power have jointly established a new company and agreed to jointly develop data center and battery storage businesses. This time, I will focus on introducing the battery storage business.

Outlook for the Battery Storage Business

NTT Anode Energy and Tokyo Electric Power Holdings have agreed to expand the application area of batteries and reduce costs at the Tsumagoi Battery Storage facility. This storage facility will use lithium-ion batteries, with a capacity of 9.3MWh and an output of 2MW.

Moving forward, both companies plan to use their assets and know-how in electricity and telecommunications to meet increasingly sophisticated social needs, such as carbon neutrality, and aim to create new value and become leaders in building a sustainable society.

So, why focus on battery development?

The Importance of Batteries in Data Center Operations

Data centers consume a massive amount of electricity, necessitating the use of renewable energy. However, ensuring a stable supply of vast amounts of power is a challenge. This is because the power generation from renewable energy varies depending on weather and time. While short-term fluctuations can be covered by UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) and emergency generators, they are not sufficient for frequent disruptions and pose a critical flaw for data center services. The use of batteries allows for coping with these fluctuations in power generation, enabling a stable supply of renewable energy. This is expected to promote the use of environmentally friendly energy in data center operations. Although the use of batteries has been considered before, their implementation in data centers has not progressed due to both the capacity of power storage and cost.

Expectations for the Technology and Initiatives of Both Companies

Battery technology is an extremely important theme across the industrial world, particularly in the data center industry. The path to addressing this theme is anticipated to advance through the establishment of a new company by NTT and Tokyo Electric Power, focusing on the development of large-capacity batteries in MW units and cost reduction, leading to widespread adoption in the data center industry.