Contemporary Amperex Technology Limited (CATL) will be debuting the company’s first-ever energy storage solution for the U.S. market at Solar Power International 2019 (SPI).
The company has previously made its name as a battery manufacturer for electric vehicles (EV), and is growing rapidly with plans for additional mega-factories in Europe and the United States. The company is subject to claims of ownership over 41% of the global share of EV batteries, having partnerships with BMW, Volkswagen, Daimler and Jaguar Land Rover, however we were unable to verify that claim. Either way, it is one of the world’s largest battery makers.
The company cites the projected rapid expansion of the energy storage market as a chief reason for the expansion. Under said expansion CATL is introducing two residential energy storage products with 100Ah battery cells. Additionally, the CATL will be showcasing its new generation of cell and rack, featuring newly upgraded energy density and up to 20 years of service life. Equipped with efficient air-cooling systems, able to save energy consumption by a reported 30%.
“There is an increasing demand for renewable energy worldwide and the demand for energy storage infrastructure has increased with it,” said Vice President for the Energy Storage Business Unit of CATL, Tan Libin. “This is especially true in the U.S., and we look forward to providing its energy companies and consumers highly tailored, safe, and reliable energy storage solutions.”
The systems debuted will be for the residential market, however the company hints that there will be more to come, sharing that the company’s current plan is to develop business relationships in the United States, so that products can be used to “assemble for large-scale renewable-energy power stations.”
CATL’s bet is likely to pay off, as the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) has released a report predicting that the volume of battery storage will more than double to 2,500 MW by 2023. The projection, however, relates only to utility-scale battery storage projects, meaning that to take full advantage, the company will have to turn their hints of large-scale projects into concrete development.
This is not the company’s first foray into the American market, however. In December of 2018, CATL opened its first North American sales and service facility in Detroit, MI. The company has not yet shared if or when additional facilities will be brought on to support this American energy storage expansion, though it seems likely.
Update: This article was updated at 8:10 AM East Coast time on September 24 to clarify that we had not been able to verify the market share that CATL is claiming.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.