Solar giant joins big battery market with launch of utility-scale SolBank

Leading global PV manufacturer Canadian Solar has launched a new lithium-iron phosphate utility-scale big battery system called SolBank, with up to 2,800kWh of usable energy capacity.

Manufactured in China’s Jiangsu Province by Canadian Solar offshoot CSI Energy Storage, SolBank combines what the company describes as “safe” and “reliable” LiFePO4 chemistry alongside liquid cooling, humidity control, and active balancing Battery Management System (BMS) technologies.

CSI Energy Storage – which is part of Canadian Solar’s majority-owned subsidiary CSI Solar – says it is currently able to produce up to 2.5GWh of battery capacity but is expanding that to 10GWh by the end of 2023.

“We are delighted to launch our proprietary battery storage product, the SolBank, which is one of the best in the market in terms of product safety and cost competitiveness,” said Dr. Shawn Qu, chairman and CEO of Canadian Solar.

“Our manufacturing capacity in battery storage will spur the continued growth of our battery storage solutions business, which will in turn enhance the synergies with our battery storage project development business.

“Solar plus battery storage will be one of the key solutions to combat climate change. We look forward to working together with our existing and new partners and contribute to global decarbonisation efforts.”

The announcement of the new big battery offering comes less then a week after CSI Solar launched its new all-in-one residential energy storage solution, called the EP Cube.

Scalable from 9.9kWh up to 19.9kWh, the EP Cube can also supposedly be connected in parallel to deliver up to 119.9kWh of storage and 45.6kW of output.