Samsung SDI deal to provide Japanese company with lithium-ion batteries

Samsung SDI will supply its lithium-ion batteries to a Japanese company building a 1MW solar farm, with the deal expected to then go on to furnish an initial 20 solar farms with batteries.

Edison Power, based in Tokyo, provides development services for solar power plants as well as energy management systems and distribution of large-scale lithium-ion batteries. According to Korean news agency Yonhap, Samsung SDI, the lithium-ion battery division of Korean trading company Samsung, will initially supply 1MWh of batteries to a project Edison Power is building in Kagoshima Prefecture, on the southern island of Kyushu. Kagoshima has been the site of several recent high profile solar power projects, including Japan’s largest PV plant, a 70MW installation by Kyocera.

The batteries will be used to smooth intermittent generation from the plant, with the companies announcing their intent to continue working together. According to reports, they will be supplied by Samsung SDI at a cost of around ¥100,000 (US$971) per kilowatt hour. Edison Power currently has plans to build a further 20 PV plants in Japan.

Previous to the latest deal with Samsung SDI, in January Edison Power inaugurated its own six hectare factory to assemble and produce large capacity lithium-ion batteries in Chiba, just east of Tokyo. The plant itself has a solar system onsite, charged from a lithium-ion battery, with electricity generated directly self-consumed by the facility.

Kagoshima is the site of Japan's largest PV plant to date, a 70MW plant built by Kyocera. Image: Kyocera.

In other Samsung SDI news, the company announced last month that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with BMW to expand a supply relationship for batteries for electro-mobility. Samsung SDI will supply batteries for BMWs hybrid cars including the BMW i3, BMW i8 and others.

According to a statement by Samsung SDI regarding the BMW deal, “The most important elements of the agreement are the increase in quantities delivered over the medium term, in response to growing demand for electro-mobility, and further technological development of battery cells.”

Smasung SDI and BMW signed a MoU last month for EV battery supply. Image: Samsung SDI.