Toshiba Pairs a 2 MW SCiB With 15.33 MWh in Mongolia

Toshiba has begun building a 2 MW, 667 kWh battery for a substation microgrid in Darkhan, Mongolia, and is preparing the controls that will run it next to a separate 2 MW, 15.33 MWh battery, ESS News reported on Oct. 26.

ESS News said Toshiba's announcement covers the shorter, high-power unit, made with its SCiB lithium-ion cells and a lithium titanate oxide anode. The publication called that unit a 20-minute, 3C asset. It described the 15.33 MWh battery as a 7.66-hour pack. ESS News said a diagram from Toshiba indicates that the larger battery is not Toshiba's and is likely a third-party lithium iron phosphate system. Both batteries are rated 2 MW. Their energy ratings are different, and this story does not add them together.

The site also includes a 10 MW solar plant, ESS News said, at a substation operated by Mongolia's state transmission company, National Power Transmission Grid. Operation is scheduled for December 2027. ESS News said a Japanese government grant funds the installation. It did not report the grant's size. Toshiba's energy-management system is supposed to forecast solar output and demand, and to let the operator watch the site from its headquarters and from its Darkhan office.

What each battery is for

ESS News said the SCiB unit is meant to absorb fast swings in solar output, while the longer battery shifts renewable energy across the day. The split is supposed to keep the rapid cycling off the larger pack. ESS News noted Mongolia's aim to raise renewables to 30 percent of installed generation capacity by 2030. For scale, a supply agreement Voltgrid reported this week covers 1 GWh of storage, with 1.5 GWh named across the wider deal, in Samsung SDI's ESS agreement. Darkhan's longer battery, at 15.33 MWh, is a substation project.

What is scheduled, not running

Nothing at Darkhan is in service. December 2027 is the operation date ESS News reported. The supplier of the 15.33 MWh pack is not confirmed. ESS News treated a third-party lithium iron phosphate battery as likely from the diagram, which is short of a named contract. Toshiba is not on Voltgrid's company list, so the story is carried by the storage and microgrid topics. The 10 MW solar figure is separate from either battery's 2 MW rating.