Massachusetts-based NEC Energy Solutions has installed an 18MW/7.5MW battery energy storage system in Switzerland to provide primary frequency reserve.
NEC said its lithium-ion ‘grid storage solutions’ system is the country’s biggest such facility. The system also comprises NEC’s Aeros energy response operating system platform and an AC/DC power conversion system.
The facility has been installed at an electricity substation in Volketswil, near Zurich and is owned and operated by Elektrizitätswerke des Kantons Zürich (EKZ), one of Switzerland’s largest power distribution companies.
“Battery storage is a vital part of future energy supply”, said EKZ storage specialist Marina González Vayá. “The now-completed storage system contributes to the stability of continental Europe’s power grid.”
The system “can power the equivalent of the daily electricity consumption of 600 average four-person households.” It is expected to have a payback of between five and seven years.
NEC Energy Solutions CEO Steve Fludder said: “As countries modernise their power grids, NEC’s storage solutions enable the transformation to a cleaner, more renewable and more digital electric power system of the future.”
