Indian energy management company, ACME, recently won a contractual agreement to install Africa’s first lithium-ion based energy storage solution (ESS) unit for an African telecom player and tower company.
ACME will be tasked to produce and sell lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries in the continent based on an agreement with a Korean ESS major. According to ACME officials, the company is hopeful that they will distribute around 110MWh of Li-ion batteries in Africa and India by end of 2016.
According to Harish Goyal, chief marketing officer of ACME: “This solution is the future of energy storage solutions and holds great prospects for high energy-consuming sectors like telecom, realty, renewables and more. This green solution has revolutionised the way we store energy by efficiently managing the energy needs in the financially competitive market segment while being challenged environmentally.”
In essence, Li-ion batteries could cut down carbon footprints as well as replace diesel generators. Additionally, the batteries could be used in sectors such as the solar power sector.
The project is expected to commence in September 2014, according to ACME.
Li-ion batteries have the following advantages:
– High energy density – potential for yet higher capacities
– Does not need prolonged priming when new. One regular charge is all that’s needed
– Relatively low self-discharge – self-discharge is less than half that of nickel-based batteries
– Low Maintenance – no periodic discharge is needed; there is no memory
– Specialty cells can provide very high current to applications such as power tools
Darryl Linington
