The four members of Formosa Plastics Group and affiliated Formosa Biomedical Technology have established Formosa Smart Energy Tech, a joint venture focusing on energy storage, energy saving, new energy, and energy-based circular economy, according to chairwoman Sandy Wang for the joint venture.
Formosa Smart Energy aims to reduce carbon emissions by at least 200,000 tons a year in Taiwan, Wang said.
For energy storage, Formosa Smart Energy will use LFP (lithium iron phosphate) batteries and battery packs produced by Formosa Biomedical to develop home-use, commercial and industrial energy storage systems, company president Stephen Liu noted. Besides, Formosa Smart Energy will cooperate with automakers to develop car-use battery packs, Liu indicated.
Formosa Smart Energy will develop energy-saving and energy recycling systems catering to different scenarios of energy use as well as undertake R&D of energy-saving management technology for balancing peak- and off-load power consumption, a bid to help Formosa Plastics Group reach carbon neutrality in 2050, Liu said.
For new energy, Formosa Smart Energy will step into the development of PV and offshore wind power generation as well as control systems for smart power grids to hike efficiency in use of green energy.
In the area of energy-based circular economy, Formosa Smart Energy will reuse retired batteries, recycle lithium batteries and precious metals as well as develop CCUS (carbon capture, utilization, and storage) technology.
Members of Formosa Plastics Group have developed many materials used in new energy, for example, over 70% of LFP cathode material, electrolyte, copper foil, and PP (prepreg) of battery cells used in electric vehicles.
Formosa Smart Energy has invested in Formosa AdvEnergy Technology which will set up an annual production capacity of 2.1GWh for LFP battery cells and of 2.1GWh for LFP battery packs in central Taiwan. The production capacities will come into operation in the first half of 2024 and the annual capacity will be expanded to 5.0Gwh for LFP battery cells and LFP battery packs.
In the interim, Formosa AdvEnergy has completed an LFP battery pack production line with an annual capacity of 20MWh elsewhere to meet market demand for the time being.
Formosa Smart Energy will cooperate with Skwentex Energy, and Fortune Electric to set up power-grid-grade energy storage containers for large power users, combined use in PV and onshore wind power-generating facilities, and state-run Taiwan Power Company to provide AFC (automatic frequency control) ancillary services. Formosa Smart Energy expects to complete such energy storage containers with a total installation capacity of over 500MW by the end of 2022 and has started planning for setting up two 100MW ones.
Specifically for home-use energy storage systems, Formosa Smart Energy has cooperated with Autosmart International, Darfon Electronics, Sunseap Solutions Taiwan and Japan-based Sojitz to offer a 12.2kWh model for tapping the Taiwan, Japan and US markets. With such a home-use energy storage system able to meet daily power demand by a family of 3-4 members, Formosa Smart Energy expects to sell more than 10,000 systems a year.
