On October 28, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL) and energy infrastructure investor Quinbrook marked the rollout and delivery of the first EnerQB long-duration energy storage units at CATL’s Xiamen production base. The units are intended for long-duration storage projects in Australia.
EnerQB was developed from CATL’s TENER long-duration energy storage system. CATL described it as the first system-level product designed for gigawatt-hour-scale long-duration storage applications. The first units will be shipped to Australia for deployment at a Quinbrook site under real-world operating conditions.
CATL and Quinbrook previously signed a Global Framework Agreement covering technology innovation and access to existing CATL technology. Quinbrook’s Australian pipeline of long-duration energy storage projects totals more than 3 GW/24 GWh, with EnerQB systems expected to be delivered and deployed across the projects in phases.
EnerQB combines battery cells designed for high-temperature operation with CATL’s compressor-free Free Cooling system. According to CATL, optimizing material activity and suppressing side reactions reduces cell degradation during long-term operation. The circulating cooling design is intended to simplify thermal management, lower failure risks and reduce operation and maintenance costs. Its refrigerant-free configuration also reduces potential environmental impacts and operating noise.
CATL specifies a 25-year design life, round-trip efficiency of at least 96% and annual availability of at least 98%. At 25°C and one charge-discharge cycle per day, the system’s 24-hour auxiliary energy consumption ratio is below 1%.
CATL Delivers First EnerQB Units for 24 GWh Pipeline
The first EnerQB units move lithium-ion long-duration storage from pilot demonstrations toward large-scale Australian deployment.
These are design and operating specifications, not year-on-year changes; all thresholds are reported exactly as stated.
The company said the system supports eight-hour energy storage applications. At the same rated power, an eight-hour system requires four times the energy capacity of a two-hour system and twice that of a four-hour system. CATL expects longer-duration storage to support renewable energy shifting and power supply for applications including AI data centers.
Source: catl.com
