Panasonic announces mass-production of 1.35kWh battery system for solar-powered homes

28 June 2012 Geoff Zeiss

Large scale lithium-ion batteries for energy storage are expected to become much more prevalent in 2012 as a result of technology advances and dropping prices.  One prediction suggests that prices for lithium-Ion large format batteries will reach $600 per kWh by the end of the year with capacities exceeding a MWh.  These very large batteriss are targeted at utilities and other large industrial users and generators of electric power.  Now a manufacturer, Panasonic Corporation, which last year supplied a lithium-ion battery storage system for field tests in Germany, has announced that it will start mass-production of a lithium-ion battery energy storage system for homes, specifically for the European residential market.

The battery system consists of a battery cell with a capacity of up to 1.35 kWh and a battery management system designed to control battery charging and discharging.  When the sun is shining the battery stores energy generated from solar photovoltaic (PV) panels. At night when the PV system is not generating power, the battery provides up to a kWh of power, about enough power to keep a 100 watt bulb lit for 10 hours.

Performance characteristics:

  • The lithium-ion battery has a design life time of 5000 cycles.
  • The battery management provides battery status information to the controller of home energy storage system, which allows users to remotely monitor the status of the system and battery.
  • The system uses a lithium-ion cell that is specifically developed for an energy storage application.
Geoff Zeiss

Geoff Zeiss

Geoff Zeiss has more than 20 years experience in the geospatial software industry and 15 years experience developing enterprise geospatial solutions for the utilities, communications, and public works industries. His particular interests include the convergence of BIM, CAD, geospatial, and 3D. In recognition of his efforts to evangelize geospatial in vertical industries such as utilities and construction, Geoff received the Geospatial Ambassador Award at Geospatial World Forum 2014. Currently Geoff is Principal at Between the Poles, a thought leadership consulting firm. From 2001 to 2012 Geoff was Director of Utility Industry Program at Autodesk Inc, where he was responsible for thought leadership for the utility industry program. From 1999 to 2001 he was Director of Enterprise Software Development at Autodesk. He received one of ten annual global technology awards in 2004 from Oracle Corporation for technical innovation and leadership in the use of Oracle. Prior to Autodesk Geoff was Director of Product Development at VISION* Solutions. VISION* Solutions is credited with pioneering relational spatial data management, CAD/GIS integration, and long transactions (data versioning) in the utility, communications, and public works industries. Geoff is a frequent speaker at geospatial and utility events around the world including Geospatial World Forum, Where 2.0, MundoGeo Connect (Brazil), Middle East Spatial Geospatial Forum, India Geospatial Forum, Location Intelligence, Asia Geospatial Forum, and GITA events in US, Japan and Australia. Geoff received Speaker Excellence Awards at GITA 2007-2009.

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