General Electric (GE) is developing Mexico’s first ever grid-scale energy storage projects to aid with the integration of wind and solar into electricity networks.
The US multinational was reported by Mexican financial newspaper El Financiero to be developing five such systems, which the paper said was part of an increased investment in renewables. El Financiero said that according to GE Grid Solutions Latin America’s leader of digital solutions, Rodrigo Salim, each system would likely cost at least US$5 million to develop and deploy.
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Salim said energy storage could help deliver power resiliency and quality in an age of renewables on the grid, the report stated. GE Grid Solutions is a joint venture (JV) between GE and power engineering company Alstom.
A representative of GE Power responded to an enquiry from Energy-Storage.News asking for more details on the reported Mexico projects. She said that while GE was able to confirm the reports, there were currently no further details available to press.
The representative said the projects “are in the very early stages” and that there was no further information she could give beyond the contents of the El Financiero report.
Back in 2015, as GE entered the energy storage market for the first time, one analyst at Lux Research told Energy-Storage.News that the giant company’s involvement was indicative of the growing appeal of a rapidly maturing industry and technology set. This year in April the company then unveiled what is thought to be the world’s first battery-gas turbine hybrid system in Norwalk, California.
Meanwhile the parent group’s venture capital investment arm GE Ventures invested in Germany’s Sonnen in 2016 and GE also formed Current by GE, a clean energy, EV and energy efficiency subsidiary in 2015.