This week, the world's largest battery manufacturer, CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd)  unveiled TENER, it's latest BESS product with 6.25 MW capacity, with bold claims that this product has zero degradation for its first 5 years of operation, whilst astonishingly offering an energy density of 430 Wh/L. They claim to have now reached mass production phase. 

This has sparked a lot of industry reaction, with people somewhat divided on whether this is indeed a wonderful breakthrough or more a clever marketing ploy. I guess the cynicism stems, in part, from the fact that this isn't the first time CATL have unveiled such “groundbreaking” new tech headlines, but with little detail published on what's behind this innovation.  

Several industry leaders, especially those from leading battery analytics firms, suspect that these “results” are likely based on adaptive BMS operating limits which have usual “buffers” to allow for natural ageing, and therefore degradation may be disguised by this. Most still agree that over a 5 year period, degradation is likely to range between 5 and 15% of capacity, particularly to boast such impressive energy density metrics. 

Whether this is indeed a marketing trick or the results have merit, industry pioneers like CATL should be commended for continually pushing the boundaries on battery innovation and regardless of the zero-degradation reality or not, moving beyond 5MWh, is a big step forward.

The overriding message is technology is moving forward at a rate of knots, which can only be a positive. More advanced technology becoming mainstream, means that hopefully we don't ultimately need the target capacities we've set out to achieve net zero. Additionally, it will make current mainstream technologies, that serve a great purpose now, can become more economically viable for wider spread deployment i.e. save the best tech for where it's really needed! 

I'm excited to see what lies ahead in the next few years!

I lead the Energy Storage and Grid business at Hyperion Executive Search, a leading search firm that helps battery and energy storage clients to hire the very best senior and executive talent across the world. If you're growing your team and need support, contact me at david.beeston@hyperionsearch.com