Saft, a subsidiary of TotalEnergies, has unveiled it will boost the energy density of its lithium battery energy storage system from 3.3 to 5 MWh in 2026, and the company will use a new AI algorithm with its I-Sight monitoring platform to improve the reliability of ESS installations.
Since Saft installed its first systems in 2012, and continuous innovation has resulted in a six-fold increase in the energy storage capacity of its Intensium 20-ft containers from 0.5 to 3.3 MWh today. Saft has also filed more than 35 patents since 2017, culminating in the development of I-Shift+, a modular system in a standard 20-ft shipping container. This is assembled and tested in Saft factories to ensure the highest quality levels and then delivered to the customer site ready for plug-and-play installation. From the second half of this year, Saft will start the deliveries of BESS produced in its U.S. plant in Jacksonville, Florida.
The other major new technology launched by Saft is the I-Sight cloud-based platform with an artificial intelligence algorithm for remote, real-time monitoring of ESS fleets. Customers now have access to a first-of-its-kind predictive maintenance service, which detects and analyzes weak signals indicating technical issues before they can have an operational impact.
This minimizes the risk of unplanned downtime or safety events and prolongs the life of the system. I-Sight is designed for use by contract administrators, site operators and service teams and has been deployed on more than 20 systems since 2022. The AI solution will be available in early 2025.
“We pride ourselves on continually improving our products, services, manufacturing and project capabilities, incorporating a decade of field experience to meet the changing needs of our customers,” said Michael Lippert, Saft Director Innovations and Solutions for Energy.
News item from Saft
This 20 foot storage container ESS with 5MWh capacity should be a boon to businesses, commercial and light industrial entities as a hedge against energy costs or could completely take the building off grid or grid agnostic for years of BESS use. The long term consideration is when one gets rid of the middleman in daily energy use, one will save money to use somewhere else in their budget.
In places like California where there is an appetite for SGIP and VPP aggregation, one could use such a system as grid services with a PPA with the local utility that could actually pay for the asset sooner than later. Just sayin’, the futures so bright, I got to wear shades.