CATL now has a team on the ground in Argentina. The battery maker has opened a commercial and technical office in Buenos Aires with sales, engineering and project-management staff, ESS News reports. Its strategy was presented last week by Ray See, president for the Americas; Harry Lau, general manager for Latin America; and Lucas Ponce, who leads the Argentine operation.
The first projects
- Nuevo Puerto: 150 MW / 750 MWh, with a 15-year supply contract with distributor Edenor.
- Central Costanera: 55 MW / 275 MWh, serving distributor Edesur.
Both belong to Central Puerto, were awarded under Argentina's AlmaGBA storage programme for the Buenos Aires grid, and use five-hour CATL LFP systems, together 205 MW and 1,025 MWh. Post Energético reports that Nuevo Puerto is about 80% built and due to start commercial operation in mid-December (translated from Spanish).
What's next
CATL is chasing further contracts linked to battery tenders and demand from large industrial power users, and Post Energético says it is in talks with a winner of the follow-on AlmaSADI tender (translated). Tesla's Megapack competes for many of the same grid-storage projects worldwide.