General Electric's (GE 0.11%) new "Durathon" energy storage system is off and running.
On Thursday, the industrial behemoth announced it notched its first European sale of Durathon, with the U.K.'s Western Power Distribution as its inaugural customer. Western Power is seeking a means of improving electricity delivery to its customers with minimal carbon footprint. To this end, it will buy and, in Q3 2013, test five Durathon 100 kilowatt-hour energy storage systems to see how they might help with this effort.
A sodium-nickel battery, Durathon is described as being a " no self-discharge" battery system useful in such spheres as telecommunications, power generation, grid operation, and energy management. GE says it has invested $100 million already in building a Durathon Battery manufacturing facility in Schenectady, N.Y. This facility opened for business in July of last year.
According to statistics from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the 100 kWh storage capacity on these battery systems should be roughly sufficient to power one average American home for three days.
Financial terms of the deal between GE and Western Power were not disclosed.
