He notes that mature markets with established liberalised frameworks continue to attract the bulk of capital.
“From that perspective, it’s usually the case that the more developed markets with a track record of stable and well-developed liberalised market environments are typically the most attractive destinations for BESS investments,” he says.
Within the APAC region, Japan has emerged as a leading example of this dynamic. The country’s Organisation for Cross-regional Coordination of Transmission Operators (OCCTO) selected 19 battery storage projects totalling 1,251MW in its third Long-Term Decarbonisation Power Sources Auction (LTDA) in May, awarding 20-year fixed-revenue contracts for capacity delivery beginning in FY2027.
Unlike the previous round, eligibility was limited to projects with a duration of 6-hours or more, demonstrating the market’s evolution toward longer-duration storage solutions that can provide more substantial grid-stabilisation services.
Despite growing momentum across the region, Ho identifies regulatory ambiguity around grid connection pathways as one of the most significant barriers to scaling utility-scale battery storage deployment across APAC.
