April 21, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Samsung SDI announced March 1 it has provided the world’s largest energy storage system, known as ESS, to California, contributing to easing power shortage problems in the region.

The company said it has supplied a total of 240 megawatt-hours or 400,000 units of Lithium-ion batteries and associated battery management systems to an ESS facility run by the AES Energy Storage in Escondido, a city in San Diego. 

Samsung SDI’s 240 megawatt-hour Lithium-ion batteries are installed in 24 containers of an energy storage system run by AES Energy Storage, located in Escandido, California (Samsung SDI)

With the supply of Samsung SDI batteries, AES is expected to store more renewable energy and release the energy when demand peaks during summer and winter. It is also part of a project that finds substitutes for natural gas-run power plants in the country.

The 240MWh ESS portfolio marks the world’s largest, according to both companies, and is comprised of about 700,000 94-ampere-hour cells manufactured by the Korean firm. The volume is equivalent to the energy amount necessary to power 40,000 household for four hours.

Samsung SDI has been eying the growing ESS market in the US. The US market grew from 167MWh in 2015 to 590MWh as of last year. It is forecast to reach 4.2 gigawatt-hour by 2020, driven by rising demand for the modernization of electric transmission and distribution systems as well as continuous renewable energy expansion.

The latest supply gives Samsung SDI about 40 percent in market share. 

Globally, the ESS market is expected to expand from 2.3 GWh in 2016 to 14.8 GWh in 2020, with over 60 percent of annual average growth.

“A key element of successfully delivering the largest ESS project in the world has been having trusted relationships with our suppliers to ensure a steady supply of quality components for our Advancion platform,” said AES Energy Storage President John Zahurancik. “We’re pleased to have had Samsung SDI, a certified Advancion supplier for several years, provide batteries to power this record-breaking project.”

According to a report by Japanese battery research firm B3, Samsung SDI stood as the No. 1 ESS battery provider with a global market share of 18 percent in 2015.

By Song Su-hyun/ The Korea Herald(song@heraldcorp.com)