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BYD Plays Major Role in UK Energy Storage System

(BRK.A), (BRK.B)

BYD is in a lead role of supplying, operating and maintaining two energy storage systems for its key UK customer, Zenobé Energy Ltd. BYD supplied 49MW energy storage systems at Aylesford in Kent and Claredown in Essex to Zenobé.

“BYD’s focus on UK energy storage market started very early, around 4 years ago. We’ve so far contracted more than 350MW energy storage projects in this country alone, and are the No.1 battery storage system supplier in the UK.” said Bin Guo, BYD Energy Storage Global Director, “We think that the UK has a lot more potential and we will continue to provide first class support to visionary partners like Zenobé Energy to meet the growing demand of reliable and bankable energy storage solutions in the UK.”

The assets were utilized by National Grid’s Systems Operator (‘SO’) to supply 24MWh of energy within half an hour enabling the SO to move the frequency on the UK transmission system significantly.

Apart from being the largest energy storage owner and operator in the UK with 63MW of BYD batteries commissioned and operational, Zenobé is also the first owner-operator to raise senior debt on batteries from Santander Bank.

“The outstanding performance of this system proves that our decision of working closely with BYD is absolutely correct.” said Nicholas Beatty a Director and Founder of Zenobé Energy. “BYD was able to work with us and our other suppliers to deliver the system and commission the plants in record times of less than 6 months from signing of contracts.”

“Without doubt, the recent ASDP (Ancillary Services Dispatch Platform) dispatch of these assets by the SO demonstrates the speed of response of the batteries compared to traditional thermal generation equipment. It also evidences the flexibility batteries provide to the SO and other customers.” said Steven Meersman, a fellow Founder of Zenobé.

The UK SO has announced its plans to continue pushing the ASDP platform into the Short-Term Operational Reserve (STOR) market and replace the existing dispatch system with a “flexible, scalable and secure platform”. Over the next 5-10 years, the growing share of renewables will gradually increase the need for flexibility providers such as energy storage.

BYD has delivered nearly 150MW of energy storage projects in the UK to date. BYD’s 1.26MW/1.34MWh standard container energy storage products fit perfectly into the UK’s climate and power grid environment, along with the requirements for new energy power generation.

As the world leading energy storage solution provider, BYD is present in more than 200 cities around the world and was the number one global seller of new energy vehicles between 2015 and 2017.

BYD and Berkshire Hathaway

In 2008, Berkshire Hathaway bet on BYD’s potential, purchasing 225 million shares. It’s an investment that has paid off handsomely. Berkshire’s original investment of $230 million has grown in value almost ten-fold, and is now worth roughly $1.96 billion.

For More on BYD, read the Special Report: BYD, Berkshire’s Tesla.

© 2018 David Mazor

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.