Japanese sodium-sulfur and lithium batteries used in German grid demonstrator project

(Nov 2, 2018) – Hitachi Chemical, Hitachi Power Solutions, and NGK are supplying batteries, battery control technology, and power grid information technologies to a joint Japanese-German grid demonstrator project. Located in Niedersachsen, Germany, the project will run for three years. The ‘hybrid’ energy storage plant will use a combination of sodium-sulfur and lithium-ion batteries to stabilize the grid. The sodium-sulfur batteries will store energy for long durations and output at 4MW for five hours without incurring higher costs or shortened battery lifetime through degradation. The lithium-ion will provide rapid charge and discharge at high power.