Solar energy firm Belectric has connected a lead-acid battery storage unit at a 68MW PV plant in Alt Daber, Germany to the high-voltage grid.
The ESS is aimed to provide operating reserve at high-voltage level and actively stabilise the 110kV grid. The storage has a reaction time of less than a second. It is the first battery storage at a PV plant that is connected to a high-voltage grid in Germany.
The so-called ‘Energy Buffer Unit’ energy storage system (ESS) has a capacity of 2,000kWh and comprises Tensor lead-acid batteries supplied by GNB Industrial Power, a division of Exide Technologies. The batteries are developed with an automated water refill system for low-maintenance.
“In the future, solar power plants will take over the functions of the most sophisticated network control,” said Bernhard Beck, CEO of Belectric. “In conjunction with storage devices, they make an important contribution to the adaptation of the energy supply and grid stability to the requirements of the energy transition,” he added.
According to Germany’s Belectric, the must-run capacities of conventional power plants can be reduced and replaced by renewable energies equipped with the company’s Energy Buffer Units.
Power company Vattenfall will offer the operating reserve from the storage on the primary operating reserve market.
The project has been funded by the Brandenburg Ministry for Economic Affairs as part of the Energy Storage Initiative.
