Hevel Saft
October 8 (Renewables Now) – Russian photovoltaics (PV) firm Hevel Solar LLC said on Friday it will start adding energy storage capacity to solar parks in the Altai Republic under a partnership with French battery maker Saft Groupe SA.
The facilities will be installed as part of a pilot project, according to an agreement between the two parties. If the results of the demonstration scheme are positive, Hevel and Saft will discuss implementing a commercial project between 2020 and 2022. The potential capacity will include distributed generation facilities with a combined capacity of over 20 MW, Hevel said.
This will be the first Russian project of Saft, which is a unit of oil and gas major Total (EPA:FP). The Interregional Distribution Grid Company of Siberia (IDGC Siberia) will take part in the pilot scheme by providing testing services for the already completed systems.
“The integration of energy storage systems into the infrastructure of solar power plants marks the beginning of a new stage in the development of renewable energy in Russia [..],” said Igor Shakhrai, general director of the Hevel group.
Hevel currently has four photovoltaic (PV) parks in Altai with a combined capacity of 40 MW. Its future plans are to grow its portfolio in the Siberian republic to 140 MW by 2020.
