Enertrag, Enel and Leclanché commission German storage project

Share

From pv magazine Germany.

German renewable energy company Enertrag, Italy’s Enel Green Power and Swiss specialist Leclanché have inaugurated a 22 MW storage facility in Cremzow, in Brandenburg, northeastern Germany. The consortium has invested around €17 million into construction of the large scale energy storage system, which will provide primary control power and help stabilize the grid.

“The Cremzow project shows how storage is increasingly becoming an integral part of renewable energy systems because they make the energy system safer, more flexible and more stable overall,” said Antonio Cammisecra, CEO of Enel Green Power. In addition to the daily contribution to network stabilization, the storage system was also conceived to ensure security of supply. In case of failure of supply, Enertrag CEO Jörg Müller said, the system can be easily restarted.

Müller added, storage can now be developed without public support and can turn a profit. “Renewable energy systems are ready for the market,” he said.

Wind farm storage

According to the consortium, the large scale system in Cremzow will provide primary control power in real time to support the frequency stability of the power network. If grid frequency drops due to high demand for electricity, the battery storage supplies power from the stored energy within 30 seconds. If, in turn, frequency increases due to low demand, the storage system stabilizes the level.

The storage project will also be integrated as a primary control unit for the electricity generated by Enertrag wind farms. The company intends to analyze how excess wind power can be stored in the battery to avoid shutting down turbines.

The owner of the storage project is a special purpose vehicle in which the German subsidiary of Enel owns 90%, with Enertrag having the balance. Leclanché is supplier of the turnkey storage system and is responsible for integrating the battery, power unit and control software.

According to the project partners, more than 600 MW of primary control power were auctioned last year. This month, the auctioned primary balancing capacity has been 605 MW. The share of electricity storage in the market already amounted to 200 MW – around a third – in 2017.

This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.