ZEN Energy, HD Renewable Energy partner for energy storage in Taiwan, Australia and Japan

LinkedIn
Twitter
Reddit
Facebook
Email

Renewable energy developer and retail utility ZEN Energy has partnered with HD Renewable Energy (HDRE) to focus on developing energy storage and green hydrogen projects in Australia, Taiwan, and potentially Japan.

Under the terms of the strategic partnership, HDRE will subscribe for 9.7% of shares in ZEN Energy, which is headquartered in Australia, for AU$43 million (US$27.7 million).

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Enjoy 12 months of exclusive analysis

  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Annual digital subscription to the PV Tech Power journal
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

In a statement released on Friday (8 November), the partnership will focus on developing storage assets in Australia, Taiwan and potentially other countries, with ZEN Energy specifying that Japan could be one such market.

Anthony Garnaut, CEO of ZEN Energy, said the partnership aims to help the company accelerate out of what he claims has been a “difficult year”.

“Our strategy is to focus on storage asset development and operation to hedge against intermittency of renewable generation, such as the major wind drought that occurred in April/May this year,” Garnaut said.

Despite this difficult year, ZEN Energy has achieved several positive milestones. In early June, the developer started construction on its 138MW/330MWh Templers battery storage project in South Australia after clearing the grid connection approval process in “record time”.

ZEN Energy has secured a long-term electricity supply contract from Templers with the South Australian government and in March brought on board US-based infrastructure investor Stonepeak in a AU$70 million deal.

The battery energy storage system (BESS) arm of Chinese solar PV inverter manufacturer Sungrow is serving as the system integrator and BESS provider for the Templers project.

ZEN Energy also saw success in the recent CIS tender round in Victoria and South Australia which saw 3,626MWh of energy storage capacity awarded. Two of its projects, the 170MW/653MWh Solar River BESS and a 230MW solar PV hybrid project, located north of Adelaide between Burra and Morgan, were also successful in the CIS tender.

90GW of energy storage needed in Taiwan by 2030

Taiwan Cement Corporation (TCC) chairman Nelson Chang said in 2022 that Taiwan will need 90GW of energy storage by 2030 to integrate new renewable energy capacity. Several energy storage technology providers, such as Fluence, Invinity NHOA, are active in the market.

Earlier this year NHOA commissioned a 120MWh BESS in Taiwan for its parent company TCC.

It follows its commissioning of a 311MWh system by system integrator NHOA in December, the largest in Taiwan, which was specifically designed for the E-dReg ancillary service market as the firm said at the time. That was also for an industrial site of parent company TCC, which acquired a majority stake in NHOA from Italian utility Engie in 2021, with NHOA called Engie EPS prior to that.

Read Next

December 6, 2024
Finnish marine and energy technology group Wärtsilä has been contracted by Australian utility Origin Energy to deliver the third stage of the Eraring battery energy storage system (BESS) in New South Wales.
December 5, 2024
Strata Clean Energy announced the completion of the 70MW/280MWh Inland Empire Energy Storage project, located in Rialto, California, 4 December.
December 5, 2024
Australia’s Queensland government is set for crunch talks with Queensland Hydro to “save” the 2GW/48GWh Borumba pumped hydro energy storage (PHES) project, with its cost having increased to AU$18 billion (US$11.5 billion) and been delayed by three years.
December 5, 2024
French independent power producer (IPP) Neoen has agreed to sell its operational and development projects in Victoria, Australia, including the 350MW/450MWh Victorian Big Battery, for AU$950 million (US$610 million).
December 4, 2024
AEMO said that new energy storage capacity that has come online will play a key role in grid stability throughout the 2024-25 summer months.

Most Popular

Email Newsletter