Europe’s first commercial battery storage park has tripled in size to a capacity of 15 MWh, German energy storage systems developer Younicos has announced.
Younicos, which installed the first-phase Schwerin 1 lithium-ion battery plant at Schwerin-Lankow in Germany in 2014, said the second phase of the project – Schwerin 2 – has expanded the facility from the 5 MWh originally available on commissioning of the site in 2014.
The facility is owned by north German energy supplier WEMAG. According to Younicos, the additional 10 MW of power provided in the second phase comprises a network of 53,444 lithium-ion batteries in 215 battery cabinets, 18 inverters, nine transformers and a medium-voltage system.
South Korean battery maker Samsung supplied the lithium manganese oxide batteries, Younicos said.
The main function of the facility is to stabilise electricity supply, “especially when renewable energy sources fluctuate”, Younicos said.
Managing director of Batteriespeicher Schwerin GmbH & Co., KG Tobias Struck, who is responsible for storage projects at WEMAG, said: “Together with Younicos, we integrated two different battery types under one roof, which was particularly challenging from the point of view of cooling and the greatly increased capacity of new batteries.”
Struck is pictured (far right) leading a tour of the WEMAG facility.
Younicos said earlier this year the facility was being upgraded to provide regional grid black-start back-up under a ‘Kickstarter’ demonstration project designed and built by the company.
Kickstarter, which Younicos said last month is “currently being brought to the market”, is supported by a consortium comprising WEMAG, Younicos, Energieversorgung Schwerin GmbH & Co., Generation KG, the Chair for Electrical Power Supply at the University of Rostock and sponsored by German’s federal economics ministry.