Lucky Cement, the largest cement producer in Pakistan, is launching a solar-plus-storage project with 5.589MWh of energy storage, which it claimed would be the largest in the country.

The stock-listed company is partnering with local renewable energy firm Reon Energy to build the 34MW solar PV project with storage at its Pezu plant, located in the northern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The storage will improve the reliability of the power supply to the plant by smoothing out the intermittency of the solar PV plant and allow for a rapid response in case of a drop in power supply.

The press release claimed the solar PV at the Pezu plant will be the largest ‘on-site’ solar project in the country and the energy storage system will be the largest too.

Noman Hasan, Executive Director, Lucky Cement, said: “Considering the global environmental challenges, it is important to invest in such technologies, especially on the industrial level. Being an industry leader we understand our responsibility towards the environment and through such investments, we are committed to ensuring a sustainable future.”

Reon Energy will supply its Reflex energy storage system for the project. It said Lucky Cement is the third company in the country to buy the solution.

On its website, Reon describes Reflex as a customisable energy storage solution with a lithium-ion battery and a 15-20 year average lifetime. The company has developed its own energy management system (EMS) platform called SPARK which it says has been designed to maximise performance, reduce risk and to increase system flexibility in order to improve the levelised cost of energy (LCoE).

Energy storage is at a very early stage in the Pakistan market. One of the country’s independent transmission & distribution (T&D) infrastructure operators NTDC launched a tender for a 20MW BESS pilot project in September last year.