Neither Nio nor Astronergy have released details about the partnership. A reasonable guess is that Nio may install photovoltaic panels on the roofs of more battery swap stations.

Nio (NYSE: NIO) has entered into a new partnership that could be paving the way for wider installation of solar panels on its signature battery swap stations.

On June 14, Nio's energy arm, Nio Power, entered into a strategic partnership with Astronergy involving integrated energy projects for charging stations and battery swap stations, according to a statement from the electric vehicle (EV) maker.

The two companies will collaborate on integrated energy projects at factories, parks based on Nio Power's charging and battery swap network, it said.

The two will also tap the value of vehicle-grid interaction and explore the value of EVs as mobile energy storage based on the layout of their energy networks, Nio said.

Nio's statement said nothing more. Astronergy, a subsidiary of energy system solutions provider Chint Group that specializes in the manufacturing of photovoltaic (PV) modules, is one of the earliest private companies to enter the PV sector in China.

Astronergy said in its statement that the partnership will focus on EV charging infrastructure construction and jointly explore vehicle-grid interaction, energy storage and utilization.

Astronergy's statement also did not mention any details about the partnership.

A reasonable guess is that Nio may install PV panels on the roofs of more battery swap stations, thus making them virtual power plants.

Back on October 19, 2021, Unisun Energy, a provider of distributed clean energy power plant solutions, announced that it signed a deal with Nio to install rooftop distributed PV plants on the EV maker's second-generation battery swap stations.

The average capacity of each PV plant that Unisun would install on the roofs of the battery swap stations for Nio is 100kW.

By the time Nio reaches its goal of having 3,000 battery swap stations in China by 2025, the total rooftop PV capacity of these facilities will be 300 MW, Unisun said at the time.

On January 3 this year, Nio signed a cooperation agreement with solar panel maker Longi Green Energy Technology to use its products on its battery swap stations.

The first HPBC (Hybrid Passivated Back Contact) photovoltaic battery swap station built by the two companies was then put into operation at the Olympic Sports Center in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, northwest China.

Nio signs partnership deal with solar panel maker Longi