Lithium-ion battery maker NEC Energy Solutions (NEC) will design and develop an energy storage system based on liquid metal technology after signing a joint development agreement with US firm Ambri.
NEC will combine its AEROS® operating platform to optimise system performance of Ambri’s batteries in ESS applications including utility, independent power producers (IPPs) and project developers.
Ambri is set to deliver its first cells to NEC in the fourth quarter of 2019.
The agreement will see the Massachusetts’-based firm commit to a minimum purchase of 200MWh of Ambri’s cells.
The systems will be targeted at applications with durations of four-hours or more, and where daily, full-depth-of-discharge cycling is expected.
Steve Fludder, CEO of NEC, said: “Ambri’s technology enables safe and reliable energy storage with potentially the lowest levelised cost of storage in the industry. NEC’s collaboration with Ambri is a great example of our initiative to explore promising future technologies for energy storage solutions.”
Dan Leff, executive chairman of Ambri, said: “We’ve received inquiries world-wide from developers, IPPs and utilities for Ambri-based systems who seek a safer, lower-cost battery that does not suffer from degradation due to usage.”
Ambri’s long duration cells are based on its patented calcium/antimony chemistry. It uses a liquid-calcium-alloy anode, a molten-salt electrolyte and an antimony cathode.
The company was founded in 2010 by Donald Sadoway (professor of Materials Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology), David Bradwell (his former student) and Luis Ortiz.
