The Dispatch reported in March that Honda’s Tokyo headquarters announced it was halting development\u00a0of three electric vehicles to be built in Ohio<\/a>, following more than $15 billion in losses by Honda on EVs due to tariffs, waning demand and economic uncertainty.<\/p>\nBut then, and now, L-H, whose majority owner at 51% is LG Energy, has not specified whether data centers would be the end user of its products.<\/p>\n
In a July 1 news release, L-H announced the start of lithium-ion battery cell mass production for both automotive and “stationary power” applications.<\/p>\n
The first cells will be used by LG Energy Solution Vertech, the U.S. energy storage division of LG Energy Solution, according to the release.<\/p>\n
The storage systems are delivered to customers who use them in grid-scale and other strategic technology applications, including in residential homes, commercial and industrial operations and large-scale utility grids.<\/p>\n
Caroline Ramsey, L-H spokesperson, called the Nikkei Asia story “just not accurate,” saying that there’s “a multitude of uses” for energy storage.<\/p>\n
L-H, Ramsey said, is the manufacturer of the cells and “information about sales is not our responsibility.” She referred questions about the end users of the systems to LG Energy Solution, which did not immediately return calls from The Dispatch for comment.<\/p>\n
LG Energy Solutions had previously noted that shipments of electric vehicle batteries declined due to inventory adjustments by a major North American customer. The company said that storage systems represent about “mid-20%” of its total revenue.<\/p>\n
Energy storage eases pressure from power grid at peak usage<\/p>\n
During peak energy demand, such as heat waves or deep freezes, the electricity power grid becomes vulnerable to outages, experts warn. The Ohio Consumers’ Counsel [OCC], whose attorneys fight to maintain low residential utility rates, supports on-site battery storage.<\/p>\n
“If you’re getting electricity from across the state, there’s a whole lot of transfer from transmission infrastructure that might be required … generation, or battery storage on-site, can help take pressure off the grid,” OCC spokesman JP Blackwood said.<\/p>\n
“If a large load user, increasingly data centers, were to build on-site a fuel cell reactor, that would require less transmission infrastructure,” Blackwood said.<\/p>\n
Energy (or battery) storage systems “capture and store electricity created by traditional energy sources like oil and gas as well as renewables like wind and solar,” L-H said in its release. “Storing grid-scale electricity helps make the electrical grid more reliable and resilient by stabilizing output and compensating for fluctuations.”<\/p>\n
Bullish optimism whether for cars or storage, executives say<\/p>\n
Speaking to associates at a recent launch ceremony, L-H Battery CEO Chahun Ku called energy storage systems “an important part of L-H Battery’s future, along with production of battery cells for application in hybrid-electric vehicles,” the L-H release said.<\/p>\n
The company has not specified its capacity or given details about its customers.<\/p>\n
Honda spokesman Chris Abbruzzese referred questions about the L-H pivot from cars to battery storage to L-H.<\/p>\n
As the market for battery cells continues to evolve, L-H Battery will remain flexible with its products and production, the L-H release said, noting that the plant’s 1,000 current employees demonstrated “agility by pivoting to support storage systems, along with hybrid-electric vehicle batteries.”<\/p>\n
“Nearly four years after the establishment of L-H Battery, it is gratifying to see the progress we’ve made together, from completing construction to establishing an entirely new workforce, and delivering meaningful economic benefits for the local Fayette County community,” Rick Riggle, COO at L-H Battery, said in the news release.<\/p>\n
The company expects to reach full capacity, including 2,200 employees, within five years, Ramsey said.<\/p>\n
Growth and development reporter Dean Narciso can be reached at dnarciso@dispatch.com.<\/p>\n
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Energy storage new focus of $4 billion Fayette County battery plant<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The $4 billion Fayette County battery manufacturing facility has begun ramping up production, but not primarily for Honda…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":83686,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[2437,15724,2858,750,44741,315,747,733,2294,4130],"class_list":["post-83685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lg-energy-solution","tag-battery-cells","tag-battery-storage","tag-data-center","tag-energy-storage-systems","tag-fayette-county","tag-lg","tag-lg-energy","tag-lg-energy-solution","tag-mass-production","tag-storage-systems"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83685\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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