Hitachi

Hitachi Energy is delivering the 35 MVA Darwin-Katherine Battery Energy Storage System in Australia’s Northern Territory. Now that civil and building works have been completed at the $30.2 million big battery site, the company will deploy tech to provide virtual inertia and system strength services to the grid.

With the Japanese conglomerate this week walking away from two new nuclear plants in the United Kingdom, project developer Horizon Nuclear Power has confirmed all activities at both sites will cease. The facilities had struggled to secure funding despite offers from government. Horizon said it will ‘keep lines of communication open’ regarding the future of the sites.

The company has bagged an order from state-run Chittaranjan Locomotive Works to supply transformers for locomotive engines.

The Japanese brand has closed the initial $6.85 billion purchase price for 80% of the Power Grids business that was owned by ABB. The buyer will have the option of purchasing the outstanding shares in 2023.

The company has warned shareholders about the potential affect of the virus on its operations in the first half of the year but said Chinese operations had almost returned to normal.

The storage system supplier is providing its technology to the Isles of Scilly as part of an ERDF-funded project to meet the remote islands’ energy demands more cheaply and cleanly. Until now islanders used fossil fuels and electricity from mainland Britain at high tariffs, prompting energy poverty for many.

Business minister Greg Clark admitted in parliament yesterday the Conservative government is considering plowing billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money into the proposed Wylfa Newydd nuclear project in north Wales.

Japan’s Toshiba has fabricated a perovskite solar cell mini-module with an energy conversion rate of 10.5%, which it claims is now the highest rate that has been reached throughout the world with a multi-cell mini-module.

Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) has started operating a microgrid powered by a 1 MW solar array in western India.