BYD Energy Storage, the energy storage arm of leading EV maker BYD, has expanded its portfolio by introducing a containerized utility-scale energy storage system (ESS) – Haohan – at Solar & Storage Live in the UK. 

The key feature of this product is the use of battery cells that resemble metal blades, thus called blade-battery. Unlike the packing of many small, cylindrical or short prismatic cells into a pack, a blade cell is directly inserted into the pack in a horizontal or vertical orientation. Equipped with multiple blade batteries with 2,710 Ah capacity each, one Haohan unit boasts a storage capacity of up to 14.5 MWh. The company claims that its volumetric energy density of 233.8 kWh/m3 is up to 52% higher than that of standard 20 ft containerized counterparts. This translates to an equivalent storage capacity of up to 10 MWh in a standard container, which typically offers a storage range from 3 MWh to 5 MWh. While it is evident that this BESS is larger than a 20 ft container, the company has not disclosed its actual size. 

This product features an IP66-class enclosure, which improves the service life of dust-sensitive components and reduces failure rates by up to 100% and 70%, respectively, compared to industry peers. This, in turn, lowers the maintenance cost to 70% of the original, claims BYD Energy Storage. Additionally, the company offers its self-developed power conversion system (PCS), GC Flux PCS, as an add-on with the BESS. 

The company has yet to respond to our queries regarding the commercialization of this product at the time of publishing this article.