A combined 117MW of lithium-ion battery storage will be coupled with hydropower stations by German energy company RWE.
The project will “virtually couple” the batteries across two locations with RWE’s run-of-river power stations along the river Mosel to raise the total capacity of the batteries by around 15%.
The battery and the hydropower stations will deliver grid frequency services.
The planned system comprises 420 lithium-ion battery racks, housed in 47 shipping containers spread across two RWE power stations.
The system at the Gersteinwerk in Werne (North Rhine-Westphalia) will have a capacity of 72MW, while the one at the Emsland station in Lingen (Lower Saxony) will have 45MW.
Around €50 million ($59 million) is being invested in this project, which is scheduled to start operations at the end of next year.
Roger Miesen, CEO of RWE Generation, said: “Battery storage systems are essential to the success of the energy transition.
“Our project is setting new standards and shows how we can offer the market even more flexibility by intelligently linking up battery capacity with run-of-river power stations.”
RWE is working on projects with technologies such as redox-flow storage systems and second-life batteries, including the stationary use of former electric vehicle batteries.
