Japan scales up batteries but companies worry rule changes may curb growth

Investors are pouring billions of dollars into Japan’s nascent electricity storage market as power demand is growing after a long decline, but changes proposed to smooth the flow of energy onto the grid and to lower prices threaten to curb returns.
Japan, which relies on imported fossil fuels for around 70% of its electricity, has been expanding renewables to improve energy security, but has faced frequent power curtailments on its fragmented transmission grid system, especially in the northern region of Tohoku and Kyushu in the south.