New Market
Samsung SDI is spearheading its market penetration of Energy Storing Systems (ESSs) for Japanese households.
Samsung SDI announced on May 8 that the company inked a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) on May 7 to exclusively provide household ESSs to Japan’s Nichicon Corporation.
Samsung SDI CEO Park Sang-jin and Nichicon CEO Shigeo Yoshida signed the deal for successful cooperation at the former’s Seocho-dong Samsung office in Seoul.
The Nichicon CEO said, “Above all, our extended contract is based on the outstanding performance and safety features of Samsung SDI’s ESS, and we would like to proactively deal with the market shift through long-lasting cooperation and stay ahead in Japan’s ESS market.”
In the meantime, the local counterpart said, “Via our renewed contract, we can reinforce our position in Japan’s ESS market. In the future, we will pre-emptively forge ahead in expanding into the Japanese market.”
The agreement this time expands and extends the existing contract whereby Samsung SDI is to provide 300,000 ESSs to Nichicon starting on the first half of next year.
According to Samsung SDI’s estimates, based on current and future price rates, the contract will reach 1 trillion won (US$978 million) in size, becoming the world’s largest ESS provision contract.
An ESS is a high-capacity energy storage device where energy can be stored and used at a time of your choice.
Since the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, household ESSs have been in high demand in Japan where they are used for electricity conservation or as an emergency power source in case of blackouts.
Japan’s household ESS market is anticipated to grow more than 70 percent per year on the average until 2020.
The local company and its Japanese partner have been cooperating under an ESS provision contract since 2011.
Once the local company provides Nichicon with ESS battery systems, the latter will add Power Conditioning System (PCS), and sell them to consumers. Samsung SDI and Nichicon’s household ESS market share exceeds 60 percent.
Based on the reinforced contract, Samsung SDI could solidify its number one spot in Japan’s ESS market.