Sungrow targets Mexico energy storage growth

Mexico has become Latin America's leading market for battery energy storage systems (BESS) and solar inverters, according to Chinese manufacturer Sungrow.

"Right now, it's the most important market in Latin America," Héctor Nuñez, head of sales for North LatAm, told the Future Energy Summit in Mexico City in May.

"We're participating in dozens, almost hundreds, of projects simultaneously.... I think the years between now and 2030 will be very dynamic."

According to Wood Mackenzie, Sungrow is the second-largest battery energy storage system (BESS) integrator, behind Tesla. It is the world's second-largest manufacturer of inverters, behind Huawei.

Since October 2025, the administration of President Claudia Sheinbaum has launched four tenders for renewable energy and storage projects.

A call for private-sector projects concluded in December with the award of 18 generation permits. A request for renewable energy joint ventures with state-owned utility CFE will wrap up in June.

In May, the energy ministry issued a second call for private-sector projects and another call for generation and storage projects with CFE.

"We're experiencing a surge in technical requirements and proposals from developers, both technical and commercial. It's massive demand, unlike anything we've seen in other markets," Nuñez said.

"We are making several hires in parallel not only because of the demand we are seeing, but also because of the growth we expect."

Sungrow has 1.2GW of installed capacity in solar projects in Mexico. It is investing more in the country in response to the increase in project activity.

The company has ambitious targets for Mexico, Nuñez said, and wants to install several gigawatt-hours of BESS capacity in the country.

Challenges

At a time when lithium prices are rising rapidly, Sungrow has developed higher-capacity batteries to reduce balance-of-system (BOS) costs.

"We're seeing a sharp increase in lithium prices, which are now double their level in December last year. That has, of course, led to higher battery costs," Nuñez said.

"Projects in Mexico are large, and being able to fit an additional 2MWh into the same footprint represents a huge reduction in balance-of-system (BOS) costs."

Mexico is requiring wind and solar projects to invest in storage capacity equivalent to about 30% of their generation capacity.

That will increase Sungrow's share of capex in a project from 5%-7%, when it supplied only inverters, to almost 30%, Nuñez said.

(The original version of this content was written in English)