Utility Scale hybrid storage Varel

An increasing proportion of electricity is produced from wind or solar energy and therefore depends on the weather – instead of how much electricity businesses and households need at any given time. Nevertheless, the power grid must ensure an exact balance everywhere around the clock. The battery storage can compensate for short-term frequency fluctuations in the power grid and thus support grid stability. A task previously performed by conventional large-scale power plants. The battery storage can solve this task very efficiently. Thanks to its previously unique “hybrid” design, it is also suitable for many other applications and is therefore very flexible. If required, it can deliver up to 11.9 MW of power into the grid or draw power from it. Converted, its storage capacity of almost 23 MWh would be sufficient to supply all households in Varel with electricity for five hours.

The battery storage in Varel combines two proven technologies: lithium-ion batteries allow rapid access to the stored energy and are perfect “sprinters”, while sodium-sulfur batteries as “marathon runners” are better suited for the longer-term intermediate storage of larger capacities. The advantages of both battery technologies can be combined with intelligent control in such a way that the storage can stabilize the power transport in the regional power grid in the most economical way.