ABO Energy has sold the rights for two battery energy storage system (BESS) projects in South Africa to Electricite de France (EDF) after developing them into ready-to-build status.

Both schemes will be standalone battery storage systems with a power output of 77MW each and a corresponding storage capacity of 308MWh.

EDF was awarded preferred bidder status for both projects on 30 November 2023 in the first bid window of the Battery Energy Storage Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme.

Financial close has now been reached for the two schemes.

The sites are located near Aggeneys in the Northern Cape province and near Vryburg in the North West province respectively.

“We are very happy about the financial close of these projects and the successful cooperation with EDF," said general manager of ABO Energy in South Africa Rob Invernizzi.

“The two large stand-alone battery storage systems will help to stabilize the local grid considerably."

The two projects are ABO Energy’s first South African battery storage systems to reach financial close.

Since 2021, the company has already sold wind and solar schemes totalling around 500MW in the country.

The subsidiary of ABO Energy was founded in 2017 and has already shown success with its own project development.

The local team is working on a pipeline of around 5GW of wind and solar schemes in areas with available grid resources, as well as storage sites with batteries or hydrogen in all regions of the country.