A new 2.5MW lithium-ion grid-balancing battery system has gone online in the German federal state of Schleswig-Holstein.
Public utility Wind to Gas Energy (WGE) said the StoraXe storage system, with a power output of 2.5MWh, was connected to the grid in Brunsbüttel and will also assist research into smart grid functionality.
The research project is sponsored by Germany’s Federal Ministry of Economics and one of “the first large-scale grid stabilisation projects to be realised” in northern Germany, said battery supplier ADS-TEC.
ADS-TEC, which is based near Stuttgart, said the 40-foot containerised system “can collect/feed large amounts of power from and into the grid in milliseconds in order to smooth energy peaks in the power supply network— and make the volatile generation of power from renewable sources available at all times”.
Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Silicon Technology will work with WGE in using the system to “test alternative operating concepts for battery storage systems”, ADS-TEC said. “The additional benefit of StoraXe storage systems is, for example, the ability to connect them to ADS-TEC’s internet of things service platform, Big-LinX, which offers extensive possibilities and innovative business models”.
Research published in 2016 forecast that Germany’s energy storage market will grow by 11 times in MWh between 2015 and 2021 to reach an annual value of $1.03 billion.
According to the study, Germany is already one of the biggest energy storage markets, with 67MW of energy storage (128MWh), valued at $169 million at the end of 2015.
