ESS Inc., a U.S. manufacturer of long-duration batteries, announced that it has entered into a framework agreement with SB Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary of SoftBank Group Corp, to deploy two gigawatt-hours (2 GWh) of ESS batteries through 2026. The agreement demonstrates ESS and SB Energy’s shared commitment and vision of a global shift to renewables and decarbonization of the grid. ESS recently announced it would become a public company through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, ACON S2 Acquisition Corp. In connection with the agreement, the first ESS system has already been delivered to an SB Energy location in Davis, California, and will be commissioned in October 2021. SB Energy plans to install additional ESS flow battery systems to complement its expanding portfolio of solar power projects in Texas and California, two of the fastest-growing markets for long-duration storage in the U.S. With its iron-, salt-, and water-based batteries, ESS systems help customers enhance grid resiliency while eliminating the risk of the batteries catching fire, particularly in wildfire-prone areas such as California.
ESS also recently announced that it had closed an order with Enel Green Power España to deliver 17 ESS Energy Warehouse™ battery systems with a combined capacity of 8.5 MWh. The project will support a solar farm in Spain as a part of a broader EU-wide engagement, providing resilience for the local power grid. SB Energy has grown quickly to become a leading solar, storage and technology platform across the U.S. SB Energy owns five utility-scale solar projects totaling 1.7 gigawatts (GW) in Texas and California, which are currently in operation or construction, and is developing a multi-gigawatt pipeline of domestic solar and storage projects to be built over the next few years.