OREANDA-NEWS. July 09, 2012. Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. announced today that it has started the verification testing of its wayside energy storage system, the Battery Power System (BPS), with the East Japan Railway Company.  This is the first time East Japan Railway has installed a wayside energy storage system on a revenue service line.  Results of this test will be used to evaluate the benefits of the BPS, the only wayside energy storage system to be directly connected to the feeder line.

 Kawasaki and East Japan Railway have signed a joint research and development agreement, with Kawasaki being responsible for the design and manufacturing of the BPS as well as the measurement and analysis of the test data, and East Japan Railway being responsible for the procurement of the test field and the operation of the BPS.  The BPS is installed at the Kori Substation located along the Ome Line and utilizes high-capacity nickel-metal hydride GIGACELL* battery banks.  The BPS will be operated intermittently until February 2013 and the evaluation of its benefits, such as seasonal energy savings and traction power line voltage stabilization, will be done by comparing operation data with and without the BPS.