Energy storage company Fluence is set to form a new company with renewables firm ReNew Power to take advantage of the India’s fast-developing energy storage market.
Indian company ReNew Power and energy storage firm Fluence— a Siemens and AES company— will form a 50:50 JV to “localise and integrate” the latter’s energy storage products and packages in India.
The JV is expected to start operations in H1 2022, and will be managed and operated by an independent management team and board.
The JV will kick off by providing a solution to its first customer, ReNew, with 150MWh BESS required for its 300MW Peak Power Project in Karnataka state.
Fluence delivered it first battery-based energy storage project to India in 2019.
India’s Central Electricity Authority forecasts the country’s energy storage market will reach 27GW/108GWh by the end of the decade due in part to the country’s climate goal of 450GW of renewable capacity addition by 2030.
Solid-state ESSs
On 13 January, Fluence announced a multi-year agreement with QuantumScape Corporation to introduce solid-state lithium-metal battery technology to stationary energy storage applications.
The companies will collaborate on solutions that incorporate QuantumScape’s battery technology into Fluence stationary energy storage products as specific technical and commercial milestones are met.
QuantumScape’s solid-state lithium-metal technology has the potential to offer higher energy density battery cells that can store more energy in less space than today’s leading lithium-ion batteries— the key word being potential.
Last November, QuantumScape released results from an independent third-party laboratory testing report on the performance of its solid-state lithium-metal battery cells.
The firm’s single-layer cells met automotive-relevant conditions, reportedly achieving more than 800 cycles— roughly equivalent to 240,000 miles driven for a 300-mile range vehicle.
The results, from testing conducted by Mobile Power Solutions, go some way to answering questions over the company’s technology, or at least its claimed progress, as it faces a securities lawsuit by investors who feel they were misled over the viability of the company’s technology.