China's largest electric vehicle producer and major battery manufacturer BYD signed an agreement with UAE's renewable energy company Masdar to supply 11.275GWh of battery energy storage systems (BESS) for a round-the-clock (RTC) renewable energy project in Abu Dhabi, strengthening its presence in the Middle East energy storage market.
The agreement follows BYD's award of a 12.5GWh grid-scale energy storage project in Saudi Arabia — one of the world's largest battery storage projects.
The Abu Dhabi RTC project, jointly developed by Masdar and Emirates Water and Electricity Company (EWEC), is described by the developers as the world's first gigawatt-scale, round-the-clock renewable energy project. The project aims to provide continuous clean power through the integration of solar generation and battery storage, addressing the intermittency challenges associated with renewable energy sources.
BYD will supply its Haohan energy storage system for the project. The system incorporates the company's 2,710Ah Blade battery, which offers more than three times the cell capacity of previous-generation products while significantly increasing energy density and reducing battery management system (BMS) complexity by 70-80pc, BYD said.
The system is designed to support continuous 24-hour operation and maximise lifecycle value for large-scale energy storage facilities, it added.
In addition to battery systems, BYD will provide its proprietary GC Master energy management system (EMS). The platform can manage more than 10mn monitoring points, offers over four times the computing capability of previous systems and can support energy storage sites with capacities exceeding 15GWh, BYD said.
The agreement highlights growing demand for large-scale battery energy storage projects in the Middle East, where governments are accelerating renewable energy deployment and seeking technologies capable of providing round-the-clock power supply.
BYD early this month also signed an agreement with Poland-based renewable energy developer Greenvolt Power to jointly develop the Siedlce battery energy storage project in Poland, further expanding BYD's presence in the European energy storage market.
Chinese battery companies are accelerating expansion into overseas energy storage markets through partnerships with international firms, supported by rapidly growing global demand for energy storage. The deployment is expected to support long-term lithium demand.
