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Japan Wind Development (JWD) and major Japanese oil refiner Idemitsu, a minority shareholder in JWD, are co-operating on the development of batteries for storage of wind power, according to media reports. JWD, which declines to comment on the reports, operates the world's first wind farm incorporating storage batteries, a 40 MW facility at Futamata, in Aomori Prefecture. The companies are using high capacity sodium sulphur (NAS) batteries to smooth peaks and troughs in wind generation, as increasingly required by Japan's utilities. NAS batteries are made exclusively by Japan's NGK, which is planning to increase annual production capacity from 90 MW to 150 MW.