The commercial scale storage system, which utilises used batteries collected from electric vehicles, will begin operations in February 2014.
The system will measure the smoothing effect of energy output fluctuation from the nearby Hikari-no-mori solar farm, over the next three years.
Sumitomo said the project was selected as a model project for "verification of the battery storage control to promote renewable energy" for the fiscal year 2013 by the Ministry of the Environment of Japan.
Sumitomo battery business development department general manager Norihiko Nonaka said, "We are pleased to be a part of such an important verification project that can both utilize used EV batteries, and provide a large-scale power storage facility, which are important issues that need to be addressed for the future of renewable energy."
To address the secondary use of EV lithium-ion batteries, Sumitomo created the joint venture company 4R Energy, in collaboration with Nissan Motor in September 2010.
Image: Sumitomo’s new power storage system in Osaka, Japan, will utilise used batteries collected from electric vehicles. Photo: Courtesy of Sumitomo.
