BW ESS enters French market

BW ESS, a British company that focuses on storing electricity, has entered the French market by buying two battery storage projects from Recurrent Energy, a subsidiary of Canadian Solar. The projects have a combined power capacity of 200 MW and a storage capacity of 800 MWh, located in Baixas and Coquainvilliers.

Projects in Pyrénées-Orientales and Calvados

The two sites are located in Baixas, in the Pyrénées-Orientales region, and Coquainvilliers, in the Calvados region. Each has a power capacity of 100 MW and a storage capacity of 400 MWh, which means each can supply power for four hours continuously.

Recurrent Energy developed the projects

Recurrent Energy was responsible for developing the projects, from securing the land to handling connection procedures, including authorization and local consultation. The company says the sites have good access to the national electricity transmission network, with only limited constraints expected.

BW ESS to manage construction and operation

Recurrent Energy will continue to develop the projects until they are ready to begin construction. BW ESS will then take over to carry out the work until the installations are fully operational, after which it will own and operate them long-term.

Part of international expansion strategy

This acquisition is part of BW ESS’s broader strategy to expand internationally. France is now the seventh country where BW ESS operates, following the United Kingdom, Australia, Italy, Germany, Spain, and Sweden.

Existing and planned storage capacity

BW ESS says it currently has over 540 MWh of battery storage capacity in operation and around 12 GWh of projects either under construction or in earlier development stages.