China solar giants are now turning to battery storage, and building the projects themselves

The Chinese solar giants that have dominated the rollout of low cost PV on homes and at grid scale projects across Australia and much of the world over the last decade have turned over a new leaf: They are now offering battery storage at scale, and deciding the best option is to build the projects themselves.

The last year or so has seen a number of different Chinese PV makers adding storage and EPC capabilities to their portfolio, with a particular interest in DC-coupled solar farms that marry solar PV and battery storage behind the same connection point.

One of these is Canadian Solar, which has already contracted as a turn-key EPC provider for more than 1,300 MWh of battery storage capacity in Australia, which according to the latest data puts it among the top six or seven battery storage suppliers in the country – following storage specialists Tesla, Fluence and Wartsila.

That capacity is made up of three projects – Mannum in South Australia and Terang in Victoria, both pitched at 100 MW and 200 MWh, and the newly announced Summerfield battery in South Australia, which will come in at 240 MW and 960 MWh, and will be built for Danish giant Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners.

Colin Parkin, the head of Canadian Solar’s e-Storage division, says the e-Storage venture started around six years ago, as solar and storage started to become synonomous, at least in terms of what some of the biggest customers wanted to achieve in the grid.

“We started out in US capacity markets as an integrator of battery storage, but we also realised we had to move long term into our own products, and the manufacturing of energy storage,” Parkin tells Renew Economy.

“So we started building our own products around five years ago, and then we began to roll out the manufacturing capacity in China.”

That capacity already stands at 25 gigawatt hours (GWh), and another 20 GWh of battery storage production capacity is now being added to take its total capacity to 45 GWh.

Canadian is also ramping up its 3 GWh battery cell factory to 10 GWh, which will enable it to provide an end to end battery solution. He says it will be one of the first of its kind in the world.

The combination of solar and storage is gaining new prominence thanks to the rapidly falling costs of battery storage, the continuing falling costs of rooftop solar, and the inability of onshore wind technology to keep pace on the cost front.

This has been exemplified by the decision of Rio Tinto to sign up to a massive solar and battery project – the country’s biggest – to help power its giant smelters and refineries in Gladstone, and will contribute significantly to its “firming” needs.

Global infrastructure investor Quinbrook is also touting eight hour batteries, coupled with solar, to support other energy-hungry green manufacturing industries, including poly-silicon factories and green iron projects planned for Queensland and elsewhere in the country.

e-Storage is also offering an eight hour battery solution with a focus on the growing submission under the LTESA initiative.

“The adoption of solar and storage stand for themselves,” Parkin says. “Contracts are being awarded for the best technology, and energy storage is supporting that.

“There will be a continuing trend for cost reductions in energy storage. It is still relatively new and demand and products are evolving.”

Canadian Solar and its e-Storage division expects to announce its fourth solar and battery project this month (April), and another two by the middle of the year.

Parkin also points to the interest in DC-couple solar and storage solutions, where the two technologies are married behind a single connection point.

“That has challenges on the way that the contract is written, and most of the projects to date have been AC-coupled. But because we are an EPC, and a solar and storage company, we are probably the best equipped to offer DC- coupled solutions.”

Still, as usual, there are the notoriously challenging grid connection hurdles in Australia, some of the highest in the world because of the unique, stringy nature of the grid.

“We’re reviewing how to get around some of those structures. There is 10 fold growth opportunity in this Australian market, and we intend to seize it.”