Japan’s NGK Insulators has discontinued its sodium-sulfur (NAS) battery product line, with the exit of its partner, BASF, thought to have led to the final decision.

Japanese manufacturer NGK Insulators’ proprietary battery tech features in a large-scale project that has just come online in its home country, as a pilot begins in the US.

NGK Insulators, manufacturer of batteries and storage system based on sodium-sulfur (NAS) chemistry, has announced the commissioning of its first system deployed in Bulgaria.

Malaysian manufacturing firm Leader Energy has tied up with BASF Stationary Energy Storage to develop long-duration energy storage projects in southeast Asia using the sodium-sulfur battery technology of NGK.

Enabling longer duration storage and non lithium-ion technology, what to do with the storage capabilities of electric vehicles and how the industry is overcoming regulatory hurdles were all key topics discussed at this year’s Energy Storage Summit in London.

A ceremony was held yesterday in Niedersachsen, Germany, to welcome the start of operations at a ‘hybrid’ energy storage plant that will use a combination of sodium-sulfur and lithium-ion batteries to stabilise the grid.

Lithium and sodium sulfur batteries will be used for the first time in new territories, after NEC ES and NGK inked deals to deliver projects to an island archipelago in Brazil and in Dubai respectively.