BESS factory of 1.5 GWh per year opening near Sofia in Bulgaria

International Power Supply (IPS), a Bulgarian manufacturer of battery energy storage systems, is about to launch operations at its new facility near Sofia. Its latest model has 8.2 MWh and fits into a standard container. The company plans to double the factory’s annual capacity to 3 GWh already by the end of the year.

IPS, headquartered in Sofia, is automating and scaling its production of battery energy storage systems (BESS). It is counting on growing demand in Europe, including the domestic market. The company already has orders for 7 GWh for the next three years, Chief Executive Officer Alexander Rangelov told the Kapital news website.

The systems in the new X-BESS line have 8.2 MWh in capacity, fitting into a standard TEU container of 20 feet (6.1 meters). Each consists of seven liquid-cooled modules of 1.17 MWh. The model has inverters of 4 MW, translating to a two-hour duration.

Serial production is about to begin in the Hemus high-tech industrial park near Bulgaria’s capital city. Initially, the annual capacity would be 1.5 GWh, but IPS aims to double it already by the end of the year.

IPS plans another, fully robotic factory

X-BESS started three years ago with a 6.5 MWh version. IPS is currently fulfilling contracts for 670 MWh for projects funded through the country’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP or, in Bulgarian, PVU). The company also applied for EUR 150 million from the European Union’s Innovation Fund, for a fully robotic 5 GWh factory.

The majority owner of IPS, with 65.5%, is Power Technology Investment Group. It is controlled by the family of the founder Stoil Rangelov Trifonov. SIL Energy Invest has 31.5%. The Capital Investments Fund (CIFund) of the Bulgarian Development Bank holds the remaining 3%.

X-BESS includes a battery management system developed by IPS

The company mainly uses European parts and the lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery cells are from China. The battery management system (BMS) is proprietary. The project pipeline includes a 5 MW rooftop solar power plant for the new factory, combined with own batteries.

IPS is looking for a strategic partner for further expansion.

Just ten days ago, a BESS facility of 124.1 MW – 496.4 MWh was inaugurated in Lovech in Bulgaria. The Ministry of Energy said it is the biggest in the European Union.

Deal with NEK for BESS at Vacha 1 hydroelectric plant

In consortium with GBS Energy Solutions, IPS recently won a tender for equipping the Vacha 1 hydropower plant with BESS. It is a pilot project of state-owned National Electricity Co. (NEK), which has several such investments underway.

The deal is for a system of at least 5 MW in capability and 10 MWh in capacity. The minimum round-trip efficiency is 85%. At 365 cycles per year, the contractors guarantee at least 60 GWh within the duration the 15-year arrangement. They won the job, which includes maintenance, with a bid of EUR 3.4 million.

NEK is also planning another pumped storage hydropower plant at the Vacha dam

Notably, Minister of Energy Zhecho Stankov said last week that NEK sent applications to the European Commission for four pumped storage hydropower projects. Initially, two facilities were planned, at the Batak and Dospat sites. Stankov revealed there would be two systems at Dospat.

The fourth new pumped storage hydroelectric plant is planned near Ravnogor, he said. The village is right next to Vacha 1 and the existing Orphey pumped storage system. The proposed facility would have some 800 MW in capacity, similar to Chaira, according to Stankov. The three existing pumped storage hydropower plants and the sites for the four projects are all in the Rhodope mountains in the south.