Toshiba Corporation and Hitachi, announced October 3 that the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) approved the establishment of a new technical committee on electrical energy storage (EES) systems. This is the first IEC technical committee whose establishment was led by Japan in the field of smart grid (next-generation power grid). Japan was chosen as the international secretary to manage the committee. EES is expected to be a key technology to cope with output fluctuation in renewable energy. That Japan acquired a central position for the standardization of this technology is expected to be beneficial to the country’s international competitiveness.
As renewable energies such as solar power and wind power involve large output fluctuations, technologies ensuring the quality of power are important for greater proliferation of renewables. Therefore, research and development of EES systems, such as lithium ion batteries, are becoming active in countries worldwide. To install EES systems, it is necessary to solve technical challenges related to safety and environmental risks as well as grid interconnection. Because this is a new field, there has been no adequate group in IEC to discuss relevant topics. Toshiba and Hitachi therefore jointly proposed a new technical committee, which was approved October 1 at the IEC general meeting held in Oslo, Norway. It is now planned to select a committee chairman and hold the first international meeting by next summer.
