News

Murata enters Utility-Scale Energy Storage Arena

February 28, 2018 by Paul Shepard

Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. has developed a container-type large-scale 'Fortelion' energy storage system to provide emergency load management and counter instantaneous voltage drop, and released the developed system in cooperation with Japan Facility Solutions, Inc. (JFS), a 100% subsidiary of TEPCO Energy Partner, Inc. (TEPCO EP).

The system's storage block uses Murata's 'Fortelion' lithium-ion battery, manufactured by Murata subsidiary Tohoku Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd., and is used in combination with an ac-dc converter made by Meidensha Corporation or YAMABISHI Corporation.

Instantaneous voltage drop, or a momentary drop in power system voltage, due for example to lightning strikes on power transmission lines, may have large impact such as the stoppage of production lines in factories, while data centers, and factories that manufacture high value-added products require more stability of power supply than ever before.

Murata's 'Fortelion' lithium-ion battery uses a cathode composed of olivine-type iron phosphate, with a high safety standard and no risk of fire, and a useful lifespan of up to fifteen years. In addition, the battery provides a higher amount of power than that of general lithium-ion batteries, which leads to installation space savings.

The product also has a demand response function that can help to level power supply by making use of energy storage to achieve efficient energy use.

Going forward, Murata will continue to develop high input (2C charging) high output (6C discharge) large-scale energy storage systems, and provide various solutions that realize not just instantaneous voltage drop compensation measures and demand response, but also mitigation of short-term fluctuations and adjustment of frequencies.