Sumitomo Electric has unveiled the results of tests on a vanadium redox flow battery system it installed in 2017 at San Diego Gas & Electric’s (SDG&E) facility in California.
In 2015, Sumitomo Electric was selected by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) as a contractor for the International Demonstration Project to prove Japanese technology for improved energy consumption efficiency/demonstration project testing storage battery operation for both electricity transmission and distribution in California, USA.
For seven years, from 2015 to 2021, the company conducted a demonstration project in San Diego, California, using its redox flow batteries, which are long-life stationary storage batteries suitable for large-capacity applications.
Following the completion of the demonstration, an ex-post evaluation by external experts was concluded in December 2022, with a results presentation and tour of the site in February earlier this year. But Sumitomo only announced the completion publicly last week.
The external experts gave high marks on four evaluation items with many positive comments.
“The knowledge obtained through this demonstration project will be particularly useful in forming an electricity market in Japan and creating a system for its operation, and it will serve as a basis for promoting and achieving decarbonization in Japan,” one of the external experts commented. “Technically, it is extremely significant that the storage battery system showed a high operating rate (99% in the final year of the project) and durability (a capacity retention rate of 90% or more for 20 years) in the actual electricity market.”
Utilizing the knowledge gained from the demonstration project, Sumitomo Electric will continue to develop its redox flow battery business to meet the growing needs in North America and other countries and help create decarbonized society.
