CATL signs 4 GWh supply deal with Israel’s BLEnergy

As part of its international expansion strategy, Israel’s BLEnergy has deepened its partnership with the world’s leading battery maker CATL. With their latest 4 GWh supply deal, the companies are expanding their partnership beyond Israel and the Middle East, mainly concentrating on the growing European energy storage market.

“We are excited to expand the successful cooperation between the parties from Israel to Europe and [this] represents a significant step forward in our commitment to enhancing energy storage solutions,” said Nicholas Chen, CATL’s vice president emerging markets.

The agreement is a continuation of the strategic relationship between the companies in line with BLEnergy’s goal to capture a “significant market share in the growing Israeli energy storage market.”

“This strategic collaboration will strengthen our dominance in the Israeli market and allow us to bring our top-quality full battery energy storage system (BESS) solution and services to the fast-growing storage markets all across Europe,” Asaf Wassercug, BLEnergy CEO, said.

The deal comes in the run-up to a tender run by the Israeli regulator which is expected to procure 5 GWh of high-voltage energy storage systems. Israel is aiming for 30% renewable energy in its electricity mix by 2030, and storage is expected to play a key role in achieving the national goals, reaching up to 20 GWh by the time.

BLEnergy is a part of Blilious Group, which specializes in initiating and executing projects in the fields of alternative energy, transportation, vehicles, and real estate. Founded in 1964, the group also imports buses and private electric vehicles powered by CATL batteries.

BLEnergy acted as a project partner for Israeli developer Doral Renewables in delivering the first utility scale PV-plus-BESS project in Israel. The Holit project, featuring a 5.5 MW solar array and a 11.2 MWh energy storage system was connected to the grid in December 2022.

Since then, BLEnergy has connected to the grid more than 200 MWh of BESS projects, using CATL Tier 1 products. In May this year, Doral and BLEnergy also initiated the first agro PV-plus-storage project in Israel, which will be featuring CATL batteries.

BLEnergy says it will continue to propose the most advanced energy storage technologies, including CATL’s new technology and products, such as EnerC Plus, EnerX, and Tener, a 6.25 MWh storage system with zero degradation in the first five years of use.

The Israeli company expects to complete more than 650 MWh of installations this year. It holds 1.5 GWh of new contracts across different BESS applications, including PV-plus-storage, stand-alone, and behind the meter systems.