TOKYO, March 21, 2017 - Japan's New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO); the Ministry for Economics, Labour and Transport of Niedersachsen of the Federal Republic of Germany; EWE-Verband, an association managing the electric power supply to 17 districts and four cities in Niedersachsen, and EEW Holding have agreed to jointly implement a demonstration project on a large-scale hybrid battery system.

On March 19th 2017, Mr. Furukawa, Chairman of NEDO, Mr. Lies, Minister for Economics, Labor and Transport of Niedersachsen, Mr. Schonecke, Association Director of EWE-Verband, Mr. Bramlage, Deputy Association Director of EWE-Verband, and Mr. Rohler, Managing Director of EEW Holding signed a memorandum of understanding.

At the same time, Hitachi Chemical Co., Ltd.; Hitachi Power Solutions Co., Ltd.; and NGK Insulators, Ltd., Japanese companies commissioned by NEDO to implement the project, and EWE AG, an energy provider in Germany, have agreed to collaborate in the project and concluded an implementation document.

The demonstration project will be launched in Niedersachsen, which has been actively introducing renewable energy, particularly large-scale wind power, in recent years. The project aims to build a large-scale hybrid battery system using lithium-ion batteries and NAS batteries that can stabilise the distribution grid, and thereby control the electric power supply and demand balance, by charging and discharging storage batteries. Another aim is to establish a new business model for electricity trading using the battery system.