The Rockefeller Foundation-backed Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) is gearing up to launch a global consortium on battery energy storage systems (BESS) during the upcoming COP28 in the UAE.   

The consortium will primarily aim to drive down the costs and unlock the value proposition for power distribution companies in terms of embracing battery storage, Ashvin Dayal, senior vice president, power and climate at Rockefeller, told the Mint, an Indian financial daily.   

“We formed the global BESS consortium this year. We are going to launch it formally at COP28. So, we are trying to bring together a collection of countries,” he added.   

The consortium intends to transform energy systems in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean by deploying battery energy storage. Multilateral development banks will join as financial partners, while technical partners will comprise battery energy companies.   

“Our goal is to have the 10 first-movers,” he said, estimating around 90-100 GW capacity of battery storage will have to be set up in the next seven to 10 years in nearly 20 developing countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.   

The Rockefeller Foundation and its partners, such as the IKEA Foundation and Bezos Earth Fund, invested $10 billion to establish GEAPP at COP26 in 2021. 

(Editing by Seban Scaria seban.scaria@lseg.com)