The biggest battery storage system to be installed in a Nordic country will use lithium-ion technology supplied by SAFT.
The system was taken into use by clean energy company Fortum at its ‘Batcave’ battery project in conjunction with its biomass-fired biopower plant in Järvenpää, Finland.
The Batcave’s 2MW/1MWh battery consists of around 6,600 lithium-ion cells, to offer second- and minute-level frequency regulation.
The project will become more important as increased wind and solar energy is generated in the country.
The Batcave name refers to “battery cave”, a construction container equipped with battery technology and created as a test environment for new ideas.
Tatu Kulla, Head of Business Development, Fortum, said: “Our Batcave project takes us a big step closer towards the solar economy, where electricity storage plays an important role alongside renewable energy production forms.
“The battery brings flexibility to the national electricity market, benefitting all electricity users.
“In addition to storing electricity, the Batcave project allows us to test completely new ideas for optimal control of the battery together with other flexible electricity production forms.”
The Batcave development project cost around €1.6million ($1.6million), for which Fortum will receive a 30% energy investment subsidy from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.
