Enel Green Power has started construction on a project to expand the Cremzow energy storage facility in Germany.
The Italian renewable energy firm is adding 20 MW/34.8 MWh of capacity to the 2 MW/3.2 MWh facility, the country’s first in Germany, it said.
The Cremzow battery energy storage plant started operating in April 2018 and will be completed by the end of the year, Enel said. Located in the Land of Brandenburg, the project is the result of an agreement between Enel, Enertrag and Leclanché.
Once completed, the storage plant will provide frequency regulation services with 11 operationally independent units of 2 MW to the German Primary Control Reserve (PCR) market to rapidly stabilise the grid, and will be later integrated with Enertrag’s wind farms.
“Energy storage is playing an increasingly important role to ensure grid stability and paves the way for a widespread diffusion of renewables around the world, facilitating their integration into electrical grids,” said Antonio Cammisecra, CEO of Enel Green Power.
The facility will be owned by a special purpose vehicle that is 90 per cent owned by EGP Germany and 10 per cent by Enertrag. Leclanché will be a contractor in engineering, procurement and construction (EPC), and will deal with the integration between batteries and conversion systems and with the energy management software.
“Storage systems play a significant role in the stabilisation of the grid and promote the transition to a greater use of renewable sources. They will also help avoid wasting renewable energy in moments when grids have already reached maximum capacity,” said Anil Srivastava, CEO of Leclanché.
