Samsung SDi and ABB signs MoU to develop Li-ion microgrids
South Korea’s lithium-ion manufacturer Samsung SDI has signed a memorandum of understanding to form a strategic commercial alliance with automation technology group ABB.
South Korea’s lithium-ion manufacturer Samsung SDI has signed a memorandum of understanding to form a strategic commercial alliance with automation technology group ABB.
Swiss engineering company ABB has extended its partnership agreement with Connecticut based fuel cell power systems provider Doosan Fuel Cell.
Doosan Fuel Cell, a subsidiary of South-Korean Doosan Corporation opened its U.S facility in July 2014, following the acquisition of fuel cell technology assets from ClearEdge Power.
ABB is to deploy an integrated commercial flywheel system on Kodiak Island in Alaska, US.
The flywheel system, integrated with a battery, is aimed to enable the integration of renewable energy from an expanded wind farm to its microgrid and to address stability challenges.
Switzerland ABB has revealed a medium voltage uninterruptible power supply (UPS) with multi-MW ratings and a claimed efficiency of 99.5%.
ABB will initially launch the PCS100 MV UPS series into the Chinese market. “China is a key market for large UPS products where vast electronic systems in factories draw from tens to hundreds of megawatts of power,” said ABB Power Conditioning general manager John Penny and added: “It is now a major research center for much of the world’s high technology industry.”
The PCS100 MV is industrially rated, but is also set to target mega-size data centres, which have similar characteristics to semiconductor fabrication plants, stated ABB. “The trend towards free air cooling and centralized protection makes medium voltage UPS protection with an industrially rated product a very attractive solution”, noted Penny. Factory designers can locate power protection more remotely in a centralised location, away from the production, he adds. The UPS is designed to minimise life cycle costs with low loss and wide temperature range that reduce cooling costs.
The energy storage is kept at low voltage levels and therefore enables storage solutions from lead-acid batteries to supercapacitors and lithium-ion batteries, stated the supplier. The system is designed for a service life of at least ten years.
The ‘second life’ potential of batteries is a hot topic at the moment with the rise in EVs meaning more lithium-ion batteries will be in circulation, including the Nissan Leaf being mass-produced in the UK from 2013. ABB and Zero Carbon Futures are both researching the potential utilisation of ‘used’ batteries. When the batteries come out of the cars they would still have around 80% capacity, this would reduce the range of the car but still be sufficient to be put to another application. Zero Carbon Futures, working alongside Nissan, are researching the energy storage potential of the used batteries for home energy management systems.