ABB and Samsung SDI, the leading manufacturer of lithium-ion batteries, are working together to promote microgrid solutions globally.
The two companies will establish a global commercial alliance to develop and market modular and scalable microgrid solutions, utilizing lithium-ion batteries for energy storage.
The combination of ABB’s global market presence, its leadership in grid technology and its global service footprint with Samsung SDI’s leading lithium-ion battery technology will enable accelerated growth of the market.
It will make microgrid solutions a viable alternative to promote and broaden access to electricity in emerging markets and remote areas while providing power reliability, resiliency and security to developed markets.
ABB CEO Ulrich Spiesshofer said the alliance combines the complementary capabilities of both companies and will enable us to bring optimized solutions to customers.
ABB will provide technologies for electrification, control optimization, stabilization and expert consulting services. Samsung SDI will provide the batteries and the battery management system.
According to Lux Research, Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries have become the dominant technology in grid storage, capturing a 90 per cent share of systems proposed last year.
Molten salt batteries still account for a majority of installations by energy capacity, because of NGK Insulators’ early lead, but are no longer the technology of choice.
Globally, as of January 2015, 1,100 MW and 2,523 MWh of grid storage have been deployed across 605 projects.
“Driven by renewable-connected systems and demand management, grid-scale energy storage is taking off, with 450 MW and 730 MWh of systems installed in 2014 ,” according to Dean Frankel, Lux Research Associate.