Panasonic Corp. will begin selling energy storage systems in Australia to take advantage of the proliferation of solar panels dotting the rooftops of homes in the sunburned country.

Sales will begin in October after a feasibility study is conducted with Australian power companies such as ActewAGL and Red Energy. Rather than direct sales to consumers, Panasonic plans to target utilities, according to Katsufumi Miyamato, an official in charge of the project.

Energy storage is hot at the moment, especially following last month's announcement from Tesla Motors Inc. that it will sell a suite of batteries to store electricity for homes, businesses and utilities. Like Tesla's, Panasonic's version will use lithium-ion batteries.