ENGIE (formerly GDF Suez) has acquired an 80% stake in Green Charge Networks, a battery storage company based in California. Green Charge, utilising its advanced patented software algorithms and analytics, deploys, owns, operates, and optimises battery systems at commercial & industrial and public sector customer sites in the USA.
Green Charge has developed a portfolio of 48 MWh of battery storage projects either deployed or under construction across more than 150 sites in the USA and says its has helped customers reduce their electricity bills up to 30% while providing stability to the grid.
“With Green Charge, ENGIE immediately gains a strong position in the growing battery storage market in the US and further develops its offering of load management solutions at customer sites," said Frank Demaille, president and CEO of the North American business unit of ENGIE.
This acquisition is also expected to reinforce ENGIE’s position in the areas of decentralised energy management, off-grid systems, and power reliability, which ENGIE has identified as areas for growth around the world.
“By working with ENGIE, Green Charge looks forward both to continued growth in California as well as expansion across the US and internationally," said Vic Shao, CEO of Green Charge. "ENGIE’s long-term financial and commercial support presents an opportunity to scale our business to a completely new level."
William Kriegel, chairman of Green Charge, said, "ENGIE has the capabilities to propel Green Charge forward in its next stage of growth in the emerging global energy storage marketplace."
In the United States, ENGIE is already offering a variety of energy efficiency, customised demand response, and renewable technologies to commercial and industrial customers, allowing them to optimise their load requirements and energy-related costs, the company says. Recently, ENGIE has invested in Colorado based energy management system company Tendril, which is "reinventing energy service management thanks to an open, cloud-based software platform", and has acquired OpTerra Energy Services, which provides energy and sustainability management services. to thousands of customers.