Production has begun at a battery energy storage system (BESS) factory designated as a project of strategic importance by the European Commission (EC) due to its use of local supply chains.

A flurry of grid-scale BESS project progress totalling more than a combined 1.5GWh in the past week, from Renalfa in Bulgaria, Engie in Romania, Nala Renewables in Finland and Metlen in Greece.

Hithium will supply its latest 6.25MWh DC block products to engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company Solarpro, for projects in Eastern Europe.

Sungrow has signed a 2.4GWh strategic deployment agreement for battery storage systems in Europe with solar PV solutions provider SUNOTEC.

Renalfa IPP has secured a €315 million (US$367 million) financing package from an EBRD-led consortium to support a 1.6GW renewables, 3.3GWh BESS rollout in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, and North Macedonia.

A new automated facility will need around 85% fewer employees per GWh of annual BESS manufacturing capacity, Bulgaria-based IPS said.

We caught up with the CEO of Bulgaria-based International Power Supply (IPS) to discuss its claimed first mass-scale cell-to-system BESS manufacturing facility in Europe and its ultra-high density 20-foot product.

A c.500MWh BESS project in Bulgaria has been inaugurated, claimed as the largest in the European Union (EU).

The Mobility House will provide its aggregation and trading software to Electrohold, the energy trading arm of IPP and T&D network owner Eurohold Bulgaria, to optimise a 2.5GWh portfolio of BESS projects.

The Ministry of Energy of Bulgaria has selected 82 winning energy storage projects for a share of BGN 1.15 billion (€588 million) in financial support.