An innovative solution for dealing with strong performance peaks ‒ with electricity fed in from PV plants and wind farms ‒ was presented at the University of Darmstadt on 16th March. The research project Flex4Energy showed how bottlenecks in the distribution network can be avoided with an energy storage tank and a marketplace where electricity potential can be traded.
In a new development area in the town of Groß-Umstadt, near Frankfurt am Main, a district energy tank stored the performance peaks from nearby rooftop PV systems. In addition, a lithium-ion battery storage system, with 100kw performance and 100 kWh capacity, offered surplus electricity potential on a virtual marketplace. This could then be requested by regional grid operators in times of unexpected supply bottlenecks and allocated using a trading algorithm.
One of the conclusions drawn by the project partners of the University of Darmstadt, ENTEGA AG, Fraunhofer ISE, Fraunhofer IESE and the Ads-Tec GmbH – project management: StoREgio GmbH – was that the additional use slowed down the ageing process of the storage systems to a far greater extent than expected. For grid operators, a functioning regional system for trading with flexibilities could increase the security and quality of energy supply and potentially minimize investments in grid expansion.
Latest reports 22/03/2018 - Energy infrastructure
Regional electricity supply: Flexibility management with energy storage
Introduction
Within the scope of a project that received around three million euros in funding from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi), supply bottlenecks in a small grid area could be successfully resolved by a district storage system combined with a market place to trade surplus electricity.
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Further information
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Information in German
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