Thanks to favorable government policies, the energy storage industry is experiencing rapid growth. Recently in China, CATL has formed an alliance with Solargiga in order to develop and market products for a wider range of energy storage applications. CATL and Solargiga are recognized as major players in their respective fields of Li-ion batteries and PV products.
On September 5, CATL announced via its official WeChat account that a team led by its chairman Robin Zeng visited Solargiga’s HQ and discussed the possibility of forming a tight partnership in the global market for energy storage systems and other new energy technologies. The visit ended with the signing of a strategic cooperation agreement.
According to the agreement, CATL and Solargiga will bring their respective advantages together and jointly cultivate the global market for integrated PV-storage systems. This partnership extends to system-level innovations and application development. Together, the two companies will work to sustain the growth momentum of the greater new energy industry.
Solargiga manufactures mono-Si PV products and builds PV power stations. However, it is involved in other renewable energy sectors including wind power, energy storage, green hydrogen, and electric cars. Examples of its offerings include inverters for wind farms and PV power stations, energy storage equipment, and floating PV systems. As a provider of advanced energy solutions with a global reach, Solargiga is among China’s major domestic technology enterprises.
Currently, Solargiga is selling PV systems mainly to mature markets such as the US, the UK, and Germany. At the same time, the company putting more efforts into integrated energy projects that combine PV, wind power, and energy storage. The company has accumulated a wealth of expertise in peak shaving, frequency regulation, and ancillary services. This expertise, in turn, facilitates its entry into application segments such as grid-connected renewable energy projects, micro-grid, and energy storage solutions for commercial, industrial and residential settings.
Looking at its activities in the first half of 2022, Solargiga were the solution provider for the following projects: (1) the first phase (176MWh) of the Ginan Solar Project in Australia; (2) the Sanxia-Ulanqab demonstration project for “generation-grid-load-storage” in China; (3) the largest PV-storage project so far in Southeast Asia (136.24MWh); and (4) the largest energy storage project so far in Israel (430MWh).
In terms of financial performance, Solargigia’s revenue grew 49.58% year on year to RMB 12.281 billion for the first half of 2022. Its net profit attributable to the parent company grew by 18.95% year on year to RMB 900 million for the same period. The share of energy storage systems in its revenue stream during the first half of the year came to 19.42%. As for the revenue from sales of energy storage systems, it surged by 159.33% year on year.
Turning to CATL, the company has been developing products for utility-scale energy storage since its establishment. The company has participated in the development of the energy storage section of the Zhangbei National Demonstration Project, which for a while was the world’s largest platform for the synergistic utilization of PV, wind power, and energy storage. In 2018, CATL formally established its energy storage unit, thus ensuring that vehicle power batteries and energy storage batteries are the two main pillars of its businesses.
In 2021, CATL led the construction and application development of a 100MWh energy storage project. The project is part of a national program for the R&D of a smart grid and related power equipment. The 100MWh project was to showcase an advanced lithium battery technology. Under CATL’s leadership, the project achieved more than 12,000 charge cycles for energy storage batteries. It also overcame key technical issues related to the operational safety and unified management of a large battery plant. CATL was able to develop and provide solutions for system integration, battery management, etc.
On the topic of client base, CATL is a strategic partner of the major Chinese utilities such as CHN Energy, SPIC, China Huadian, China Three Gorges Corporation, and China Energy Engineering Group. CATL’s major foreign clients are among the top 10 players by demand in the global market for energy storage batteries. Examples include Nextera, Fluence, Wartsila, Tesla, and Powin. These companies are all working closely with CATL.
On the subject of financial performance, CATL generated RMB 13.624 billion from sales of energy storage batteries for 2021, showing a massive year-on-year growth of 601.01%. For the first half of 2022, the company’s revenue related to energy storage came to RMB 12.736 billion, showing a year-on-year growth of 171.41%.
This article is a translation of a Chinese article posted by TrendForce. It contains information that is either sourced from other news outlets or accessible in the public domain. Some Chinese names are transcribed into English using Hanyu Pinyin.