Twenty-four BMW batteries with a combined 720kW output and 792kWh storage capacity have been commissioned this month at the 12MW Curslack wind farm on the outskirts of Hamburg, which is owned by the city’s University of Applied Sciences.
Swedish utility Vattenfall built the lithium-ion storage system connected to five Nordex N117/2400 turbines commissioned in 2017.
The storage unit enables the electricity supply to be optimised and adapted to meet demand and reduce the likelihood of curtailment, the developers said.
The university’s Competence Centre for Renewable Energies and Energy Efficiency (CC4E) wants to use the project to research the the possibilities for the system integration of renewable energies, it said.
Vattenfall’s managing director for innovation, Oliver Weinmann, said: "With this plant, we are helping to ease the pressure on electricity grids in northern Germany and taking a step forward in the availability of non-fossil fuels.
"Using the findings from this project, we can develop further intelligent storage solutions for wind farms with the aim of marketing the energy from wind farms to optimum effect even under future conditions."
The project is part of the NEW 4.0 energy transformation coalition.
The group consists of companies, scientists and politicians aiming to create a blueprint of how to supply the Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein region in northern Germany with 100% renewable energy by 2035.
NEW stands for Norddeutsche EnergieWende, the northern Germany energy transition, and ‘4.0’ for the fourth industrial revolution, which involves the digitalisation of industry and the use of intelligent networks in the energy transition.
Members of the coalition presented solutions for managing grid congestion, energy generation and demand-side response management, the electrification of heating and transport, and better integrating renewables in the energy network at the Global Wind Summit in Hamburg in September.
