The internationally recognised ABB (Swiss) and BYD (Chinese) engineering companies have joined forces to develop new technologies in energy storage for solar power, vehicle charging and even marine applications.

The two companies have collaborated on an electric vehicle previously and both look forward to this new project and eventual success. The DENZA electric vehicle they worked on together has an all electric range of 300kms and a top speed of 150km/h.

ABB chief executive Ulrich Spiesshofer said: “We are pleased to build on our achieved joint success and broaden our excellent cooperation with BYD. This next step will bring closer together two leading companies with highly complementary expertise and market access for electric energy storage. With this next step in our successful partnership, we live our promise: ‘Power and productivity for a better world’ in utilities, industries, and transport and infrastructure.”

ABB is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of solar inverters and has a remarkable reputation in the power and automation sectors which it has built over the last almost 30 years. They employ around 160 000 people in 100 countries worldwide.

BYD is a China-based manufacturer of automobiles with an impressive reputation and experience with batteries. They too employ a great number of people (around 180 000) and is backed by US investor Warren Buffett.

Two companies with pedigree such as these two, working together could make them a force to be reckoned with. Solar storage is definitely an up and comer. When technology develops and prices drop making it a more feasible option, the uptake is going to skyrocket! Competition is going to be fierce and these companies are going to be heading up the charge.