South Korean battery company Kokam has been selected to provide photovoltaic-connected battery energy storage systems for two projects in the country.
Kokam will deploy its high energy lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (HE NMC) battery technology for the projects, which total 40 megawatt-hours (MWh) of BESS capacity.
The storage systems are needed for renewable capacity firming and energy time shifting, Kokam said.
The first project has been installed at three sites in South Korea’s Chungchoeng region in collaboration with the project’s renewable energy system developer, Razzler. Kokam delivered and installed 5MW /12 MWh of total BESS capacity to support a total of 5MW of PV system capacity.
The second project is for Korea Midland Power for nine sites across the country. This project consists of 8MW / 28 MWh of total BESS capacity coupled with a total of 10MW PV system capacity.
All 28MWh is scheduled to be installed and in operation by the end of 2018.
Kokam said the majority of the BESS capacity for the Korea Midland Power project uses the company’s newly-developed 100Ah HE NMC cell. “This next-generation, high-energy cell has a new active material in the anode and includes a new additive to the cell’s electrolyte, increasing the cell’s energy density by 26%, to 204.4 watt hours per kilogramme, without reducing its expected life.”
Ike Hong, vice-president of Kokam’s Power Solutions division, said: “These two new projects and the introduction of our new high-energy 100Ah HE NMC cell illustrate that we provide the technology and expertise that PV and other renewable energy project developers and owners need to integrate safe, high-energy storage into their projects.”
US energy tech firm SolarEdge Technologies said earlier this year it was acquiring a majority stake in Kokam, ahead of plans to take full control of the company.
