CBI research team visit Japanese energy storage and advanced lead battery manufacturing hub

Demand for energy storage is taking off in the Asia Pacific region, which is fast becoming a hub for advanced lead battery manufacturing.

The hike in demand for battery energy storage is driven by the accompanying pressure for more renewable energy capacity, with the region now accounting for more than 45% of the world’s installed battery storage capacity.

CBI visited Japan earlier in the year to meet with the leading players in the country’s lead battery industry, where the technology remains key to facilitating ever more sophisticated and complex energy storage requirements.

Longstanding CBI member and co-developer of the UltraBattery, The Furukawa Battery, was the setting for a tour of the manufacturing plant in Harigai, north of Tokyo, which is also the location of an energy storage system using the successful UltraBattery. 

The Furukawa Battery site manufactures storage batteries and power system products for the automotive and energy storage sectors. 

The UltraBattery is a hybrid energy storage device that combines ultracapacitor technology with lead battery technology. This technology has demonstrated excellent performance levels at partial state-of-charge (PSoC) and is very well suited for energy storage systems such the facility at the Harigai plant. 

You can view our short video here about the 300 kW system, which provides peak shaving, and thereby cost-effective and reliable energy, for The Furukawa Battery’s manufacturing plant.

Our team also met with the Battery Association of Japan (BAJ) which represents the country’s vast battery industry.

A special meeting was held with the lead battery members GS Yuasa, Hitachi Chemical and The Furukawa Battery, where we gave an update on our latest technical research program, communications and marketing, and the standards and testing program which is a key global initiative bringing together the lead battery industry across different regions of the world. 

CBI continues to work with the lead battery industry in all of our different work programs, to ensure future opportunities and market potential is grasped for emerging markets such as energy storage and existing markets such as automotive and motive power.