Siemens Smart Infrastructure and Zukunftsenergie Nordostbayern GmbH have signed a letter of intent for the turnkey construction of a 100 MW battery storage facility in the German town of Wunsiedel. The plant, with a storage capacity of 200 MWh, is intended to use surplus renewable energy and cover demand peaks in the power grid.
The 5000 square metre facility will be based on a lithium-ion battery storage system provided by Fluence, a joint venture between Siemens and AES, and will be able to store and release large amounts of green power, including during periods of otherwise expensive peak load matching.
Siemens will handle project management, including a technical implementation concept, as well as the construction of a medium-voltage switchgear system and connection to the high-voltage grid. Among other things, the letter of intent also includes the development of a financing concept.
“This [facility] also benefits upstream grid operators because it gives them more flexibility to compensate for voltage fluctuations, which are increasingly common because of the expansion of renewable energy generation,” said Bernd Koch, head of Technology Performance Services at Siemens Smart Infrastructure Germany. For the network operator, the solution promises significant relief. “Switching on and off large industrial plants in the grid area requires a lot of electricity,” said Siemens’ project manager Andreas Schmuderer. “Up to now, the network operator has had to maintain considerable reserves. If these can be eliminated in the future, there will be great potential for reducing CO2 emissions in the local energy market.”
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