IN Brief:
- VIM Energy has secured a battery-storage contract worth approximately SEK190 million from Esco-Voltaj.
- The scope covers design, supply, installation, and commissioning of a complete BESS for state-owned CET-Nord.
- Completion is scheduled for Q1 2027 as VIM expands its battery integration activity in Eastern Europe.
VIM Energy Systems has secured a contract worth approximately SEK190 million to design, supply, install, and commission a large-scale battery storage park in Moldova, extending its activity in Eastern Europe.
The customer is Esco-Voltaj S.R.L., with the equipment and project delivery intended for state-owned CET-Nord. The order covers a complete battery energy storage system rather than a standalone equipment shipment, placing engineering, installation, commissioning, and system integration within VIM Energy’s scope.
Completion is scheduled for the first quarter of 2027. Payments are tied to project milestones beginning with contract signing and order placement, aligning cash flow with defined stages of manufacturing and delivery rather than a single payment at final handover.
The Moldovan order follows a SEK20 million pilot agreement for battery systems in Albania and takes VIM Energy’s projects outside Sweden to an aggregate 160MWh. The company has also completed a 50MWh battery park in Sweden that was announced in 2025.
VIM has not disclosed the power or energy capacity of the Moldovan installation, so the contract value cannot be converted reliably into a cost per megawatt or megawatt-hour. Large storage projects include much more than battery cells: power conversion equipment, transformers, switchgear, controls, protection, civil works, thermal management, fire systems, communications, and the network interface all contribute to capital cost.
That broader scope is central to the order. Utility-scale batteries are assembled from equipment supplied by several manufacturers, and the performance of the complete plant depends on how cells, battery management, power conversion, supervisory control, metering, protection, and communications operate together.
VIM says its battery cells are sourced from China and that it has maintained a strategic relationship with EVE Energy for several years. Complete systems incorporate equipment from multiple countries and are controlled through VIM Energy’s proprietary software, placing the company in an integration role rather than positioning it as a cell manufacturer.
The software layer governs battery operation continuously against technical and commercial constraints. State of charge, temperature, cell condition, power limits, market commitments, and grid instructions all have to be reconciled before the plant can decide when to charge, discharge, or remain available for reserve.
VIM Energy also acts as a Balance Responsible Party, allowing it to trade energy and capacity for customers as well as for its own account. Since 2019, it has developed control systems for large-scale battery installations operating either as standalone assets or alongside wind and solar generation.
Combining hardware delivery with trading capability can reduce the gap between plant design and commercial operation. A battery may be physically capable of rapid response, but revenue depends on whether its controls, telemetry, metering, and market interfaces allow that capability to be dispatched and verified under the rules of the local power system.
For CET-Nord, the engineering work will extend from equipment supply into the network connection. Protection settings, transformer ratings, fault levels, reactive power, communications, and commissioning tests have to be matched to local grid requirements before the battery can be energised and operated at its intended rating.
Thermal management and fire protection will also form part of the project’s long-term operating burden. Battery performance and degradation are temperature-sensitive, so cooling systems must maintain cells within defined limits through repeated cycles and varying ambient conditions. Detection, isolation, and emergency procedures remain necessary even where the selected chemistry is designed for improved thermal stability.
The Moldova project gives VIM a larger test of its turnkey model outside Sweden. Cross-border delivery introduces additional interfaces around national standards, permits, logistics, contractor management, grid codes, commissioning procedures, documentation, and after-sales support.
Those interfaces become more demanding as project size increases. A fault in one battery rack may be local, while a problem in supervisory control, protection, or the network connection can restrict the output of the whole plant. Turnkey responsibility concentrates more of that coordination with one supplier.
VIM Energy’s parent, Vimab Group, operates across energy services, industrial technology, and environmental technology. The battery business has become a more visible part of that portfolio, with contracts worth around SEK210 million secured during the third quarter of 2026 at the time the Moldova order was announced.
The delivery timetable is relatively short. Manufacturing, site preparation, electrical installation, software configuration, testing, and commissioning must all progress in time for the Q1 2027 completion target, leaving little room for late changes to equipment interfaces or grid requirements.
The contract moves VIM’s Eastern European activity beyond a small pilot order into a materially larger turnkey project. Its success will be measured at commissioning, when equipment from multiple suppliers, proprietary controls, and the local electrical connection have to perform as one battery asset rather than a collection of delivered components.
