Samsung SDI, China's Sungrow plan venture for energy storage systems

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's Samsung SDI Co Ltd said on Sunday it has signed a preliminary deal with China's Sungrow Power Supply Co Ltd to form a joint venture to make energy storage systems in China. The companies plan to build a production facility by next year, the statement said. Samsung SDI, a maker of electronics components, did not disclose how large the joint investment will be and said the location has not been decided. Samsung SDI and other electric vehicle battery makers are increasingly betting on energy storage systems to hedge their bets as the market for electric vehicle batteries has lagged expectations. (Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin; Writing by Sohee Kim; Editing by Richard Borsuk)