Construction Commenced on Europe’s Biggest Commercial Battery Park

Schwerin at night. (Credit: Flickr @ Harald Hoyer http://www.flickr.com/photos/hhoyer/)Northeast German power utility WEMAG and Younicos, a renewable energy systems integration company, have started construction of the largest battery park in Europe. Its goal—to balance short-term power fluctuations from renewable energy sources in Schwerin, Germany.The lithium-ion-based unit will have a capacity of 5 megawatt-hours and is to go online in September 2014. With a maximum power of 5 megawatts it will help stabilize grid frequency and thus enable the safe integration of wind and solar power into the existing grid.Numerous representatives of German politics, administration and business attended the festive breaking-ground ceremony. Guests included Erwin Sellering, prime minister of the State of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Jürgen Becker, state secretary in the Federal Ministry for the Environment and Angelika Gramkow, mayor of Schwerin. Sellering said: “Storage is the key technology to further expand power supply from renewable energy sources. I am particularly proud that with this battery Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is leading the way.”“We’re happy to lead the way”, said Thomas Pätzhold, CTO of WEMAG. “By constructing Europe’s biggest commercial battery park, WEMAG is contributing the integration of renewables into the power grid.” Although the battery is a pioneering project, the unit will be operated economically, Pätzhold explained: “Following the initial 1.3 million Euro investment grant through the innovation programme of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, the large-scale storage unit will earn money by taking part in Germany’s primary frequency regulation market.”Clemens Triebel, founder and CTO of project developer Younicos added: “We’re happy to now be able to send such an important signal to the energy markets with WEMAG. If we’re serious about switching to renewables, we need to be able to switch of fossil plants, when sun and wind provide enough power.” The Berlin-based company developed the fully automated battery power plant and will deliver the turn-key system composed of more than 25000 lithum-ion units. “High power storage that can balance short-term fluctuations in the grid provide crucial leverage for the economic integration of more renewable energy. Every megawatt of installed battery power replaces up to ten times as much of conventional capacity that would otherwise be required to keep the grid stable. This relives our grids and saves money. And: although the current market design does yet not fully reward us for these savings, we will show that such battery parks are economically viable today.”The battery park’s business model is solely based on providing primary frequency regulation. Such frequency regulation is a system service that balances power supply and demand. Until now conventional power plants provide this service. Batteries provide frequency regulation without producing CO2, by storing and then releasing power. The batteries are kept about 50 percent charged and store or release power automatically as the grid’s frequency requires it. As soon as the frequency drops below a pre-defined trigger-point below 50 Hertz, the battery feeds power into the grid. Conversely, the battery stores excess power as soon as grid frequency rises above another pre-defined point 50 Hertz. This balances the inherent fluctuations of clean, but intermittent renewable generation units.Such balancing is becoming increasingly important. WEMAG’s wind-swept regional grid in north Brandenburg and west Mecklenburg alone has a renewable generation capacity of over 800 megawatts. In 2012 these units produced 80 percent of the amount of energy consumed by the customers of WEMAG Netz GmbH. The grid operator expects this amount to increase to 100 percent in 2013. “The volatility of the fed-in power has risen, increasing the demand for regulation” explains Tobias Struck, who heads the project for WEMAG.Cell provider Samsung SDI guarantees the performance of lithium cells for next 20 years. Completion of the building that will house the batteries is expected within 6 months with a further 6 months planned for installation and testing. The battery park is to go online in September 2014.