Japan-based battery developer NGK Insulators has supplied sodium-sulfur (NaS) batteries for a pilot energy storage project in the United Arab Emirates.
The 1.2MW/7.2MWh batteries were supplied to Dubai’s Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) for the project at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park (MBRAMSP). Ingeteam provided power and control electronics for the battery storage facility.
The NaS system will be used for “energy time shifting, frequency control and voltage control”, as well as to increase grid stability and reduce CO2 emissions. It will be “the first energy storage system paired with a solar PV plant at a grid-scale level in the United Arab Emirates”, the companies said.
Spread over a total area of 77 sq km, the MBRAMSP is the world’s largest single site solar park, and is expected, when fully realised by 2030, to have a 5GW output capacity.
DEWA previously awarded a contract to a consortium comprising Shanghai Electric and Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power construct a molten salt energy storage system with the fourth phase of the MBRAMSP.
Dubai has established a target of introducing 5GW solar PV and concentrated solar power by 2030, “which will raise the renewable energy to 25% of total generation capacity”. This percentage is targeted to reach 75% by 2050.
