[SMM PV News] Middle East 'LNG' Strikes Impact PPA and BESS Economics

SK Innovation E&S has completed and begun operations of the largest energy storage system (ESS) facility in New York State. According to industry sources on the 31st, its subsidiary KCE launched the KCE NY 6 battery storage facility located on Electric Avenue in Blasdell, Erie County. The project, with a capacity of 20MW (45.6MWh), is the largest single ESS site constructed in New York at the time of its commissioning and is directly connected to the local power grid.

Melbourne-based RayGen has fully commissioned a 1 MW concentrated solar and long-duration thermal energy storage system in Petrolina, Brazil, in partnership with Axia Energia. The facility utilizes RayGen's 'PV Ultra' technology, which uses mirrors to concentrate sunlight onto modules while capturing heat in a water-based storage system. This design achieves a 70% round-trip efficiency. Axia is testing the technology for potential large-scale deployment to help power 'AI factories.' RayGen already operates a commercial facility in Australia and is currently advancing a 200 MW/1,200 MWh utility-scale project in South Australia.

Markets frequently mistake an industry's sudden breakout for its origin. China's long-duration energy storage (LDES, ≥4 hours) sector did not abruptly emerge in 2026. Following policy incubation (2023-2024) and initial scaling (2025), 2026 marks a definitive inflection point, driven by a validated, closed-loop business model and exponential growth in grid-connected capacity.