Friday 8 December 2023

11 nations join consortium to deploy 5GW of battery storage by 2024

A total of 11 countries have joined a consortium aimed at deploying 5GW of battery energy storage systems by the end of 2024.

Barbados, Belize, Egypt, Ghana, India, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritania, Mozambique, Nigeria and Togo committed to the Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) Consortium at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai.

The BESS Consortium is a multi-stakeholder partnership set up to ensure the BESS benefits transform energy systems across low and middle-income countries.

Its initial 5GW goal will support the need for 90GW of storage capacity to achieve the estimated 400GW of renewable energy needed to alleviate energy poverty by 2030 and save a gigaton of CO2.

The Consortium also aims to accelerate project deployment, work to improve the regulatory environment, build a favourable market for BESS and unlock commercial and public financing.

The first-mover countries will be supported by resource partners including the African Development Bank, the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Masdar, Infinity Power, COP28 Presidency, National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Sustainable Energy for All, with additional partners and countries expected to join.

Dr. Rajiv J. Shah, President of The Rockefeller Foundation and Co-chair of the Global Leadership Council said: “Without sufficient storage capacity, countries will be unable to add renewable energy to their grids at the scale needed to reduce emissions and create economic opportunity.

“The BESS Consortium is an example of the sort of big, bold action required to break down the barriers keeping so many people and communities from joining the climate transformations underway.”