On October 18, Ningde Times announced an agreement with Primergy Solar LLC, a US utility and distributed PV+storage development operator, to exclusively supply batteries for the Gemini PV+storage project, the largest single PV storage project in the US. This is another important breakthrough for Ningde Times as it continues to plough deeper into the North American market.

As a global leader in power batteries, Ningde Times has recently signed a series of large orders for energy storage projects in North America and has laid out a number of energy storage projects in the North American market, including three projects with a total capacity of over 2.1GWh in Edison, California, and over 500MWh of commercial energy storage projects in operation and under construction in Texas.

The Gemini project, located near Las Vegas, Nevada, is said to be a US$1.2 billion investment with 690MWac/966MWdc of solar panels and 1.416GWh of energy storage systems deployed. Primergy has designed a DC coupling system for the Gemini project, combining solar modules with Ningde's energy storage system in an innovative way to maximise efficiency. Ningde Times will supply Primergy with EnerOne, a long-life, highly integrated and safe outdoor liquid-cooled energy storage cabinet with 280Ah lithium iron phosphate cells, a discharge rate of 1C and a cycle life of 10,000 cycles. It is understood that the EnerOne energy storage system supplied by Ningde Time is launched in 2020 and has long life, high integration and high safety features. By the end of 2021, Ningde's EnerOne has been sold to over 25 countries worldwide, with cumulative shipments of over 11 GWh.

Ty Daul, CEO of Primergy, said: "It is a pleasure to work with Ningde Times on the Gemini project. The reliability and resilience of the future of energy depends on deploying battery storage at scale to provide stable power to the grid when it is needed most. We are working with Ningde Times to build an advanced and complex battery storage system that will store excess solar energy during the day and provide electricity for Nevada in the evening."

Tan Libin, Vice President of Ningde Times, said, "Primergy has extensive industry experience. With their ability to develop, build and manage long-term assets and Ningde's innovative battery technology, the partnership on the Gemini project will set the benchmark for large-scale electrochemical energy storage applications and advance global carbon neutrality goals."

Energy storage is an important application for lithium-ion batteries. As such, the energy storage market is seen by outsiders as Ningde Times' second growth curve in addition to power batteries. Ningde Times Chairman Zeng Yuqun has publicly predicted that by 2030, global market shipments of power batteries will reach 4,800 GWh and demand for energy storage batteries will also exceed 1,000 GWh.

The cooperation with Primergy will also give full play to Ningde Times' overseas business layout network. Previously, on 21 September, Ningde Times announced a partnership agreement with FlexGen, a US-based energy storage technology platform and solutions provider. FlexGen has been appointed as Ningde Times' authorised service provider to provide maintenance and optimisation services for Ningde Times' battery storage systems in North America, while Ningde Times will supply the latter with 10GWh of advanced energy storage products over a three-year period. The partnership with FlexGen will further expand Ningde Times' service network in North America.

Data released by relevant market sources show that in 2021, Ningde Times achieved the first market share of global energy storage battery production for the first time. in the first half of 2022, Ningde Times energy storage system operating revenue reached 12.73 billion yuan, accounting for 11.3% of total operating revenue, up 171.41% year-on-year. Meanwhile, the demand for energy storage in overseas markets is very strong. In the first half of this year, the US added 5.843GWh of new energy storage installations, up 173% year-on-year. WoodMac, a market research firm, predicts that new installations in the US market are expected to grow by 29% in 2022, and demand for energy storage is expected to reach 13.5 GWh, 28.4 GWh and 45.6 GWh from 2022 to 2024 respectively, showing rapid growth.

Faced with the rapidly growing market demand, Chinese companies have set their eyes on overseas to realize the layout of energy storage at sea. At present, in addition to Ningde Times, BYD, Sunshine Power, Trina Solar, EVERLIGHT and other Chinese energy storage companies are further accelerating the pace of their layout in North America.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)