E.ON Energy has deployed Europe’s first smart local energy system on the small German island of Pellworm in the North Sea.
The system is a platform for testing and refining localised storage of renewably sourced electricity, as well as the operation of a smart grid.
E.ON worked alongside Schleswig-Holstein Netz to install an energy-storage system with data links between customers’ electricity meters and the island’s wind and solar power plants to harness the maximum amount of locally produced energy possible.
Surplus electricity can be stored in large-scale lithium-ion and redox flow batteries, which are integrated into the regional power grid, as well as in small-scale storage devices at customers’ homes for use at times when generation is low.
The project aims to address the problem of intermittency with renewables by balancing output for localised use. The €10 million project received funding from several federal German ministries as part of the Federal Energy Storage Initiative.