Formosa Plastics launches energy company to invest in battery factory

Taipei, July 5 (CNA) A smart energy company launched by Formosa Plastics Group (FPG) on Tuesday announced a plan to invest NT$16 billion (US$535.22 million) to build a green energy production base in Changhua Coastal Industrial Park, with the focus on a lithium iron phosphate battery factory.

Under the plan, a lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4 or LFP) battery and module factory with production capacity of 2.1 GWh will be set up in the initial phase with mass production scheduled to start in the first half of 2014, Wang Rui-yu (王瑞瑜), chairwoman of the new company, said at a press conference to announce the establishment of Formosa Smart Energy.

The new company will expand the plant in the second phase with the aim of boosting battery and module production capacity to 5GWh, Wang said.

After the establishment of the new company, in addition to investing NT$6 billion in battery and module production in the first phase, the company also plans to invest NT$10 billion to set up an LFP battery and module factory. The green energy production base will cover an area of about 6.1 hectares.

Before the new battery factory starts mass production, a lithium iron battery module production line with an annual capacity of 2 million MWh will be set up at the Changhua plant of Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp., a listed company affiliated with FPG, in order to meet the needs of the new energy market. The production line will represent a trial run, the company said in a statement.

According to Wang, Formosa Plastics started its battery manufacturing business more than 10 years ago.

At present, its lithium iron battery cells and modules have passed safety standard certification, she said.

The business conglomerate has also been negotiating with electric vehicle manufacturers, Wang added.

Meanwhile, Liu Hui-chi (劉慧啟), general manager of Formosa Smart Energy, said that Taiwan's annual demand for batteries is expected to reach 7.21 GWh by 2030, while global demand is forecast to reach 3,000 GWh annually by 2030.

In the future, in addition to producing lithium iron battery cells and modules, the company will also transfer the technology for recycling batteries developed at its factory in South Korea back to Taiwan, with the aim of undertaking simultaneous battery production and recycling, according to Liu.

In addition to supplying various UPS (uninterruptible power supply) emergency backup power needs in Taiwan, Japan, the United States, Southeast Asia and other regions, the smart energy company will also work with partners such as Skwentex International Corp. and Fortune Electric Co. to deploy an energy system that supports Taiwan Power Co.'s automatic frequency control services, which play a critical role in stabilizing the Taiwanese power grid, it said.

The system is expected to have a capacity of more than 50MW by the end of 2022. Two 100MW grid-level super energy storage stations are planned for the future.

The company also plans to launch a 12.2 kWh energy storage system that can meet the power backup needs of a family of three or four for a whole day, annual sales of which could reach more than 10,000 sets, according to the statement.