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40MWh Li-ion BESS to be installed in Japan

May 31, 2015 by Jeff Shepard

Toshiba Corporation has received an order to supply a large scale battery energy storage system (BESS) for Tohoku Electric Power Company's Minami-Soma Substation Project to Verify the Improvement of Supply-demand Balance With Large-capacity Power Storage Systems. Toshiba will supply a 40MW-40MWh lithium-ion BESS, Japan's largest, integrating an array of SCiB™ lithium-ion batteries. Construction of the system began today and the start of operation is scheduled for the end of February 2016.

Equipment to be installed will include: Transformers for connection to grid, Step-up transformers, Power conditioner, Battery panel, Battery modules (SCiB™)Toshiba’s SCiB™ is a lithium-ion secondary battery, distinguished by its long-life and excellent performance, including efficient charging and discharging at low temperature. It has a long lifetime, and operates with a high level of reliability and safety, including high resistance to external shock. In the Minami-Soma Project, the BESS improves the balance of renewable energy supply and demand. The system stores surplus electricity when supply of renewable energy, whose output fluctuates with weather conditions, exceeds demands, and releases the stored electricity at times of high demand.

Toshiba supplied 40MW-class BESS to Tohoku Electric Power Company for Nishi-Sendai Project in 2014 to regulate frequency changes caused by power output fluctuations. A high evaluation on technical performances of SCiBâ„¢, including safety and charge-discharge efficiency, resulted in the order for Minami-Soma Project.

Overseas, Toshiba has supplied BESS to several projects: to subsidiary of Terna S.p.A., an Italian transmission company; for a collaboration with Spain’s Gas Natural Fenosa in an on-site verification testing program for a transportable lithium-ion BESS; and for a large-scale commercial BESS for frequency regulation project in the USA, scheduled to start operation in December this year. Toshiba has also supplied SCiB™ for a 2MW energy storage system project led by the University of Sheffield in the UK.