BYD takes the world's largest energy storage project!
On January 12, Spain's Grenergy announced a procurement agreement with BYD for the energy storage system for the Oasis de Atacama (Atacama Oasis) energy storage project in Chile.
Under the agreement, Grenergy has completed the purchase of BYD's 1.1GWh large-scale energy storage system, and BYD will supply 2,136 sets of MC Cube energy storage devices to it.
Located in Chile's Atacama Desert, the project plans to install 4.1GWh of battery energy storage and 1GW of photovoltaic projects, with a total investment of US$1.4 billion (about RMB 10.037 billion), divided into five phases of construction, and is expected to be put into operation in phases over the next three years. Upon completion, it will be the largest energy storage project in the world.
Grenergy said it will invest 2.6 billion euros globally in the next two years, of which 800 million euros (about 6.288 billion yuan) will be used for battery energy storage projects.
As for the new energy and energy storage market space in Chile, Grenergy is very optimistic. "Today Chile has become a superpower in terms of energy storage development because of the special conditions of the Atacama Desert in terms of hours of solar radiation and the specificity of the energy mix in this vast area, where solar penetration reaches 50 percent," the company's CEO said.
According to the U.S. International Trade Administration (ITA), Chile has the potential to generate electricity exclusively from renewable energy sources, with an estimated energy mix that includes 46% solar, 31% wind, 12% hydroelectric, 8% flexible natural gas plants, and 23% battery storage capacity.
And, with 36 of the 129 large-scale projects with energy storage currently under development in Latin America located in Chile, Grenergy is hopeful about the market space for battery storage in Chile.
The other party to the agreement, BYD, has been a leader in the international energy storage space. According to Wood Mackenzie data, in 2022, BYD ranked fourth in global energy storage shipments with a 9% share, preceded by Sunny Power, Fluence, and Tesla, with shares of 16%, 14%, and 14%, respectively, and Huawei tied with it for fourth.
In 2023, the number of BYD's energy storage system project bids was 16, second only to CTSC. There are even organizations predicting that its total DC-side and AC-side energy storage system shipments may top the world.
BYD's global head of energy storage, Yin Xiaoqiang, once said, "I have full confidence in energy storage, which is more exciting than talking about electric cars."
BYD's first energy storage company was launched at the end of 2023. 2024 after taking the world's largest energy storage project 1.1GWh order, BYD energy storage will have what big action, let's wait and see.