We’re here and doing business.
That’s the chief message of Chinese energy storage system integrator and component supplier Clou, which has a growing footprint in Chile but remains a relatively unknown player in the local power sector.
Clou is among the country’s energy storage trailblazers.
“Even though we have been doing projects, working in this market for a few years now, not many people know us,” Clou international business general manager Songyu He told BNamericas. “But we know system integration well.”
BNamericas spoke with He along with Alejandro McDonough, the company’s Latin America CEO.
A subsidiary of home appliance giant Midea Industrial Tech, Clou has worked with Innergex (on the San Andrés and Salvador projects for a total of 485MWh) and is preparing delivery of units for Transelec (420MWh), which will be installed at the Granja Solar PV park.
With more than 15 years of energy storage experience, Clou has built a six-strong sales, project management and service/maintenance team in Chile. In terms of components, Clou provides batteries sourced from third parties as well as power conversion systems, containers and balancing software, among other products.
A main source of local business is storage projects targeting the energy shifting market, to take advantage of surplus – and low-priced – daytime energy.
“Energy storage is relatively new in Chile compared with solar, but you can see the evolution is going to be the same as solar,” He said.
Present in Chile since 2022, Clou expects to more than double annual deployed capacity this year in the country to 1GWh, according to He.
As Clou prepares to deliver in April complete systems for the Transelec project – along with a 20-year long-term service agreement – the company is looking to secure further business.
“We’re in the process of bidding, negotiating contracts, for a couple of other large projects as well,” he said.
Clou sees robust demand in Chile over the next few years, from hybridization and standalone storage system projects.
He said the pace of growth may then decelerate: “Solar in Chile is not growing that fast anymore, it’s very much saturated, so energy storage is going to hit that as well, maybe in two-three years.
“But in these three years the market is growing strongly. I have seen a lot of competition coming in, but I can see the potential is still very good for us, as we have a successful reference here.”
Today, Chinese energy storage production capacity outstrips demand.
The chief driver in Chile is solar PV hybridization, but Clou is also in initial talks with wind asset owners, a technology also experiencing curtailment.
While a challenge with wind is accurately predicting when blade-rotation speed changes, estimating when curtailment will occur is relatively easier.
Curtailment has been climbing apace, in the context of growing renewables penetration, limited system flexibility and some transmission congestion.
According to February data from local renewables and storage association Acera, 948MW/3,725MWh of storage capacity was in operation in February, with 164MW/497MWh in the testing phase. Plus, 2,710MW/10,561MWh is under construction, with average injection duration of 3.9 hours, and 71% of that corresponds to solar PV hybridization projects.
