Dongfang Electric, a Chinese state corporation that builds, uses and tests its own technology and software, is competing on a Romanian battery market where the technology is mature but the market is not, said Vitalie Mîrza, Country Manager of Dongfang Electric, at Romanian BESS on the Fast Track, a workshop organised by Energynomics.
“Currently on the BESS market there is a competition. However, it’s somehow a fake competition,” Mîrza said. “This technology is quite mature, but it’s not mature in Romania, unfortunately.”
Dongfang Electric has a long manufacturing history across several industries, Mîrza said: over the years he has sold its drilling rigs, solar panels, wind equipment and grid infrastructure in Romania. As a state corporation it implements and tests its technology internally before selling it, and it runs its factories on software developed in-house. Software and automation are the only part of the portfolio he has not yet sold on the Romanian market.
What insurers look for in a BESS project
What insurers look for most is technical safety and a minimal risk of fire or degradation, and that is exactly what Dongfang Electric offers them, Mîrza said in a note sent to Energynomics after the workshop.
The biggest battle in the storage industry today is over the temperature spread between the cells inside the cabinet and those on the outside, he explained. While most manufacturers struggle to keep the difference at 4-5°C, Dongfang Electric’s technology achieves, according to the company, a record difference of only 2°C across all the cells in the entire cabinet, a detail that is crucial for insurers and investors.
When a BESS project removes thermal risks directly through the battery’s architecture, insurers no longer see a high risk but a safe investment, which translates into lower insurance costs and faster financing approvals, Mîrza added.
Why battery warranties are short
The gap between batteries and other energy equipment shows in the warranty. Renewable energy products can carry guarantees of 20 to 25 years, and power transformers, built to last 30 to 50 years, come with at least seven, Mîrza said. Most battery manufacturers, by contrast, do not go beyond three to five years.
Dongfang Electric relies on a cooling system developed in its own factory to offer more, he said. “We can, for example, provide a five-year guarantee at site with no problem. However, most of the other manufacturers will charge you for every year of guarantee.”
For batteries, he added, a guarantee does not come easily from any manufacturer, and the same holds beyond his own company.
Buyers who treat the battery as a new toy
In the last year some Romanian companies have learned to install batteries correctly and that a battery alone is not plug and play, Mîrza said. Very few, in his experience, know how to use one properly, with the proper software, and enquiries often arrive without exact information on what the battery will be used for.
“Every system is absolutely individual and has to be treated accordingly,” he said. The same storage system does not suit a solar plant, a wind farm, grid infrastructure and a gas-fired unit alike.
The manufacturer can train the end user and assist at every step of installation, but most clients prefer their own software or outsource management to third parties. “For most of the final clients we have, this is just a new toy where they try to squeeze the maximum,” Mîrza said. The result, he warned, will be a recycling problem within a few years.
Romanian BESS on the Fast Track was organised by Energynomics, with the support of our partners: Elektra Renewable Support, ADEX Energy, Adrem Asset Management, BLU Capital, Dongfang Electric, Electroalfa, Enery, Enexus, Gotion, ING Bank, Marsh Romania, Softenerg WEBUS 4 ENERGY.