Eskom opens Africa’s largest battery energy storage facility

Eskom, South Africa’s state-run power utility, started operating the biggest battery energy storage facility on the continent, part of a measure to end electricity shortages.

The Hex Battery Energy Storage System project in Worcester in the Western Cape province uses large-scale utility batteries designed to store enough energy to power a South African town with almost 100 000 people for about five hours, Eskom said in a statement on Friday.

The utility has failed to meet electricity demand, resulting in blackouts that crimp the economy, largely due to a fleet of poorly maintained and unreliable coal-fired stations.

South Korea’s Hyosung Heavy Industries Corp and China’s Pinggao Group Co won a contract last year to build such projects in a program funded by the World Bank.

“Successful implementation will pave the way for wider adoption and possible export of the technology to other regions beyond the borders of South Africa,” Velaphi Ntuli, Eskom’s general manager for distribution and operations enablement, said in the statement.