Sumitomo Electric has inaugurated a vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) system at the Kurokiyama Solar Power Plant in Minamikyushu City, Kagoshima prefecture, on Japan’s Kyushu island. The project, marked by a ceremony on April 22, forms part of a community solar microgrid initiative aimed at decarbonizing local energy use and enhancing resilience.
Key Features
Battery Specs: 250kW output, 4-hour duration, 1,125kWh storage capacity
Application: Stores solar PV energy for evening/night use by 10 commercial and industrial (C&I) facilities
Energy Management System: Powered by Sumitomo’s proprietary sEMSA (Sumitomo Energy Management System Architecture) to control and aggregate distributed energy resources (DERs)
Grid Resilience: Can operate in island mode during outages and provide emergency power to evacuation centers
Climate Goal Alignment
The initiative supports Minamikyushu’s plan to achieve Zero Carbon City status by 2050, following Japan’s national net-zero emissions target set in 2020.
This VRFB microgrid represents a milestone in long-duration energy storage deployment in Japan, combining sustainability with critical infrastructure resilience.
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