Of all the emails we get from buyers, the most common line is "Is this project still available?" The second most common is "Are you the seller or a broker?" Unlike solar secondaries, battery storage plants are sold at one of four distinct stages, and who sits across the table differs from project to project. This article lays out those four stages, the sequence in which things move, and the points where deals tend to stall — written from the side that buys projects and resells them.
First, the boundaries. Projects awarded in the Long-term Decarbonization Auction (LDA) are outside the scope of this article. The scheme is built on the winning bidder building the plant itself and operating it for 20 years; there is no channel for selling it partway through. This article covers the so-called full-merchant high-voltage and extra-high-voltage battery storage plants that earn in the balancing market, the capacity market and the wholesale electricity market.
What is being sold comes in four stages — land, rights, interconnection approval, operating asset
"Buying a battery storage plant" means something different at each stage. Land alone; rights with a connection study response in hand; rights where the contract with the transmission and distribution utility (referred to below as the TSO) is already in place; and a plant that is up and running. The price bracket, the documents you check, and the work that remains after you buy all change across these four stages.
| Stage | What is actually for sale | What the buyer checks first | What remains to be done after buying |
|---|---|---|---|
| ① Land | Ownership or leasehold rights to the land. Whether available grid capacity has been confirmed depends on the project | Registry, land category, zoning classification under the City Planning Act, distance to the utility pole | Everything, starting from the connection study application |
| ② Rights backed by a connection study response | The TSO's written response saying "this site, at this size, can be connected", plus the rights to the land | Date of the response and the amount of the construction cost contribution, the start date of the construction period, the land contract | Contract application, payment of the cost contribution, equipment procurement, construction |
| ③ Interconnection approved, cost contribution paid | Rights where the contract with the TSO is signed and the connection timing is in sight. The plant may or may not have been built | Receipt for the cost contribution, the interconnection approval notice, equipment specifications and the JC-STAR registration number | Completing construction, the aggregator agreement, the market participation procedures |
| ④ Operating asset | An energized plant participating in the markets, with a revenue record | Cleared-trade record, the aggregator agreement, maintenance records, equipment degradation | Taking over operations. Market participation qualifications do not transfer automatically |
Put in the buyer's terms, ① is for someone who will develop from here, ② for someone who will build it themselves, ③ for someone waiting for delivery on completion, and ④ for someone buying a fully occupied apartment building. The same 2 MW is treated as worth more at ④ than at ②: the revenue is already visible, so the price of taking on the risk is different. The price ladder from stage to stage is covered in Four Ways to Buy a Battery Storage Plant (COLUMN 39), so we will not repeat it here.
Who the sellers are, and why they let go
Sellers come in three kinds. The first is the developer or EPC contractor that wants to recycle capital between securing the rights and finishing construction. The second is the operator that secured the rights but can no longer build: the cost contribution came in above what they had assumed, financing did not materialize, or they want to concentrate funds on another project — so they let go at stage ②. The last is the owner selling an operating plant as an exit. That is stage ④.
What sellers want, almost always, is a counterparty who will actually close, and cash in hand quickly. A seller who has sat through several rounds with buyers who only ever request documents will be far more selective about who they talk to next time. When we tell sellers "a rough list is fine — but we only take on projects where we can meet you directly", it is to stop that attrition.
Who the buyers are, and what they look at when they price
Buyers also fall into three kinds. EPC contractors and utility-affiliated operators that build and run the plant themselves. Corporates that hold a single plant on their own balance sheet, timed to their fiscal year-end. And investors that hold a portfolio of plants. The order in which they look is fairly fixed.
- The date of the connection study response, and the start date of the construction period. If close to a year has passed since the response, you need to confirm with the TSO that the response is still valid. If the expected connection timing reads "23 months out", ask from what point the 23 months are counted.
- The amount of the construction cost contribution, and whether it has been paid. Is it fixed by the contract application response, or still the indicative figure from the connection study? Whether it has been paid in changes the project's stage by one.
- The service area and the connection timing. The Tokyo (TEPCO PG) area moves fast, and projects go first to buyers who can pay cash. Chubu and Kansai sometimes still have projects with early connection dates. For a company working to a fiscal year-end, whether the connection falls before or after the closing month decides whether it can buy at all.
- The land rights, and the zoning classification under the City Planning Act. A storage plant in an urbanization control area can sometimes be held only by an electricity business operator. Since this also means you may not be able to sell it on afterwards, many buyers stop here.
- Equipment and certification. The battery and PCS models, and the JC-STAR registration number. If subsidies are involved, whether the equipment is eligible is decided here.
Price moves on these five. A large cost contribution pulls the price of the rights down; an early connection pushes it up; going rates differ by service area; and an operating plant carries a premium for its track record. We do not publish individual prices on this site. We provide them project by project, after an NDA.
Brokering and buying to resell are two different things
The reason we get asked "Are you the seller or a broker?" at the start of a negotiation is that the buyer's procedure changes with the answer. In a brokered deal, the buyer contracts with the seller directly and we only stand in between. When we buy to resell, we have already bought the rights ourselves, so the buyer contracts with us.
We do both. What we do not do is insert ourselves as a pass-through name in the chain. When we broker, the seller and buyer contract directly and we are paid only when a deal closes. The rate, and whether the seller or the buyer bears it, is set by the structure of each project, so we state the amount in our first proposal. When we are the seller, we say so at the outset.
One more thing: we do not take on projects with layers of brokers in between. Each extra relay shifts the terms, and we have actually seen the final figure come out different from what was passed along. Being able to meet the seller directly is our condition for handling a project.
The sequence is fixed — from teaser to name change
Where the NDA is signed, and where money moves. This is what buyers worry about most, so here is our standard sequence as a table. Timing varies by project and by TSO, so we give no day counts.
| Step | Stage | What moves | What is decided here |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Teaser (anonymized) | Prefecture, size, expected connection timing, how far along it is. No NDA required | Whether it makes the shortlist. Several can be requested at once |
| 2 | Non-disclosure agreement | The NDA, signed just before documents are released | The project's name and location are disclosed |
| 3 | Full disclosure of the DD package | Connection study response, registry, supporting documents for the cost contribution, system configuration, JC-STAR, the draft agreement | Whether it clears desk screening. The materials for internal approval are all in hand |
| 4 | Letter of intent (LOI) | A document stating price and terms. Can be submitted while internal approval is still under way | Your place in line. This is the first point at which you stand ahead of other buyers |
| 5 | Deposit | At signing of the purchase agreement or just before it. Paid after the agreement spells out what happens if the contract application response changes the terms | The project is held. The seller stops talking to other buyers |
| 6 | Contract → name change application | The purchase agreement, and the name change application to the TSO | Most of the purchase price is customarily paid here |
| 7 | Name change completed → balance | The TSO's approval | The balance. Name changes take time, so payment is split between application and completion |
If you are a buyer in a hurry, the only shortcut is to submit the letter of intent at step 4 early. Companies that will not submit until they have read every document miss out on exactly the projects with the best terms. If you are a seller in a hurry, have the step 3 package assembled from the start. Projects that arrive as loose sheets of paper stall at the buyer's desk screening every single time.
Business transfer, SPC equity transfer, asset transfer — what differs
There are three legal forms for what you buy. An asset transfer, where you buy the equipment and the rights as they are. An equity transfer, where you buy the interests in the company (SPC) that holds the project. And a business transfer, where you take over the business as a whole. Tax treatment, how the Construction Business Act applies, and how contracts are carried over to the buyer all differ across the three. Another item to confirm here: even when you buy an operating project, the qualifications for market participation do not pass automatically to the new owner. The details are in the second half of COLUMN 39.
The ways a deal stalls are fairly predictable
- Seller credit. With delivery on completion, most of the purchase price is paid before the plant is built. Depending on the size of the counterparty, that structure will not get through internal approval. It can be restructured: buy at the rights stage, contract the construction separately, or buy an operating project.
- Urbanization control areas. Unless the holding structure is reworked, you cannot buy — or cannot sell on.
- Financing. Batteries make poor collateral and loans from the city banks are hard to come by. Projects gravitate to buyers who can pay with their own funds.
- A stale connection study response. Where time has passed since the response was issued, the terms need to be re-confirmed.
- Layered brokers. The terms shift at every relay. It is also why we do not handle such projects.
- Speed of internal approval. The better the terms, the sooner a project sells. It comes down to when you submit the letter of intent.
The ways a deal stalls just before contract, and how to avoid them, are in Contract Flow in Practice (COLUMN 21); the technical items to verify beforehand are in The Technical Checks Before You Buy (COLUMN 37). For the procedure when buying at the rights stage, see Battery Development Rights Transfer (COLUMN 08).
Primary sources consulted, and related articles
- Organization for Cross-regional Coordination of Transmission Operators (OCCTO), "Grid Interconnection Procedures for Generation Facilities, etc." — the connection study and contract application process
- Electric Power Reserve Exchange (EPRX), "Trading Rules" — requirements for market participation
- Our columns: Four Ways to Buy a Battery Storage Plant / Is That "Approved" for Real — the technical checks before you buy / Three Terms, Three-Layer Separation, Two Aprils — contract flow in practice / Battery Development Rights Transfer / Why Grid-Scale Storage Is Bought With Cash
See what is for sale, stage by stage
For each project we publish the prefecture, size, expected connection timing and how far along it is — without an NDA. Only projects that already hold a connection study response are listed, and documents for several projects can be requested at once.
Contact us →The anonymized list itself is in Japanese: browse the teasers. If you hold a project you want to sell, a rough list is enough to start.