On 25 March Exide Technologies and Energias de Portugal went live at their state-of-the-art solar installation at a Portuguese production facility in Castanheira do Ribatejo. It is backed by an energy storage system using Exide’s high-performance Sonnenschein A600 gel battery technology.
Last year, Exide installed a solar installation at its Portuguese battery recycling facility in Azambuja, and now the company has a combined capacity of 4.5 MWp across the two installations.
It is one of the largest self-generation installations backed by a BESS (battery energy storage system) in Europe, and highlights the potential for such projects to be deployed at scale.
The two new installations consist of approximately 11 250 photovoltaic panels and 70 invertors. They will reduce carbon emissions by 23% at the Castanheira factory and by 19% at the Azambuja recycling plant. Energy provider EDP designed and delivered both projects, and worked closely with Exide on the energy storage component.
The Sonnenschein A600 gel battery has been proven over decades of use in complex, large scale network power applications, says Exide. The battery uses a tubular plate design and offers a long service life and protection against deep discharge. It is also completely recyclable, making the product a strong environmental choice.
