Toshiba Targets Renewable Energy with new Li-ion Battery Systems
Toshiba Corporation today announced that it has delivered battery energy storage systems integrating the company's SCiB™, an innovative lithium-ion secondary battery to Kyushu Electric Power Co., Inc., for a demonstration project to expand introduction of renewable energy sources on remote islands. The systems include step-up transformers, all power electronics, battery monitoring panel, and the battery modules. They have been installed in substations on Tanegashima Island (3,000kW, 1,161kWh ) and Amamioshima Island (2,000kW, 774kWh), in Kagoshima prefecture, and will be used to demonstrate the integration and optimum control of battery energy storage systems deployed to manage frequency regulation and maintain stable power supply on remote islands, which are increasingly turning to renewable energy sources. The demonstration program will run for three years to fiscal 2016.
When large-scale renewable energy sources such as wind and photovoltaic are integrated into power grids on remote islands, power frequencies tends to fluctuate due to intermittent power outputs from the renewables. Toshiba's battery energy storage systems provide such islands with an excellent solution for efficient and effective frequency regulation.
The maximum output and capacity of the systems Toshiba has delivered are 3,000kW and 1,161kWh for Tanegashima Island and 2,000kW and 774kWh for Amamioshima Island. Both systems integrate Toshiba's SCiB(TM) lithium-ion secondary batteries, which are known for their long-life and excellent performance: support for over 10,000 charge-discharge cycles; rapid charging and discharging; high level reliability and operational safety.
Toshiba is promoting battery energy storage system globally as a support for stable power supply, and is involved in Smart Community projects around the world. In Japan, these include a renewable power supply project in Okinawa and a large-scale urban project serving homes and offices in Yokohama. Overseas, they include a collaborative on-site verification testing program with GAS NATURAL FENOSA, one of Spain's leading natural gas utilities, that uses a transportable battery energy storage system to achieve an efficient, reliable and stable distribution network(*) . In commercial systems, Toshiba has received an order for the battery energy storage system from Rome-based ACEA Distribuzione S.p.A (Gruppo ACEA), one Italy's leading public utilities, and in Japan an order from Tohoku Electric Power Co., Inc. for a battery energy storage system with the output of 40MW, the world's highest class.
The program is supported by Japan's New Energy and Industrial Technology Development organization (NEDO), under its program for "Development of Large Scale Energy Storage System with High Safety and Cost Competitiveness."
