China's Envision Energy announced it has inked a supply contract to deliver a 660 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) for the Naos-1 hybrid solar-plus-storage facility near Viljoenskroon in South Africa’s Free State Province.

Developed by SOLA Group with WBHO responsible for construction, the hybrid asset pairs a 300 MW solar PV array with the Envision-supplied storage system. The project reached financial close in February 2026.

There exists a data discrepancy in public disclosures: separate project documents from SOLA cite a larger configuration of 435 MWp solar capacity and 855 MWh storage. The 300 MW / 660 MWh metrics, however, are consistently quoted across authoritative industry media including Energy-Storage.News, Saur Energy and Energetica India, and are adopted as the official project specifications for this release; the inconsistent figures have not yet been independently verified and resolved.

Under a 25-year long-term service agreement signed with SOLA Group, Envision Energy will take full end-to-end charge of the BESS, covering system design, manufacturing, on-site commissioning, and lifelong operation and maintenance (O&M).

Structured as a wheeling project, Naos-1 will channel clean power generated in the Free State through Eskom’s national transmission grid to industrial off-takers across South Africa. SOLA Group confirmed long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) have been locked in with two major industrial players, Sasol and Air Liquide, as key electricity buyers.

The financial close of Naos-1 pushes SOLA Group’s total portfolio of operational and under-construction renewable assets above 1 GW DC, of which 600 MW is already live. The developer has laid out a medium-to-long-term roadmap targeting 2 GW of solar PV capacity and 5 GWh of energy storage deployments by 2030.