OREANDA-NEWS. In future, a battery the size of a small sports hall will store the energy generated by the community wind farm in Braderup in northern Germany. Less energy will therefore be lost when power grids on the coast are overburdened and unable to transmit electricity. Large batteries are also useful when more energy is being produced than is needed at the time. They store energy and release it later – for example, during periods of calm winds or high demand. To realize this project, Robert Bosch GmbH and the community wind park run by BWP Braderup-Tinningstedt GmbH & Co. KG agreed on February 4, 2013 to form the company Energiespeicher Nord GmbH & Co. KG with the aim of building and operating a giant battery.

 “The project is a milestone on the way to a future powered by renewable energies. We expect to gain many new insights into how batteries can help stabilize power grids. Batteries play a key role in ensuring energy supplies on days with little wind or sun,” says Cordelia Thielitz, Bosch project manager and member of the board of management of the new company.

Enough energy to power 400 single-family detached homes for one day

Braderup is just a few kilometers from Sylt and the North Sea coast. Due to the rapid expansion of wind power, grids in northern Germany are often overburdened. Individual wind farms then have to be removed from the grid – and the wind power remains unused. To prevent these losses, in addition to the six wind turbines planned by the community wind farm in Braderup Bosch will build and operate the new megawatt battery system and integrate it into the power grid.

The battery can deliver one megawatt of power for four hours. In other words, it has a capacity of four megawatt hours, enough to power around 400 single-family detached homes for one whole day.

The giant battery will be housed in a building with almost 600 square meters of floor space. There are also plans to install a photovoltaic system on the roof to harness additional energy. If everything goes to plan, the wind turbines will be up and running by July 2013 and the battery by December. The wind farm will be connected to the power grid of E.ON Hanse.

Power – even with no wind

Jan Martin Hansen, fellow member of the board of management of Energiespeicher Nord GmbH & Co. KG alongside Cordelia Thielitz, explains: “Once the battery is installed, we can offer renewable energies even when the wind is not blowing. Our community wind farm therefore solves an important problem. This makes us a reliable partner that can ensure a constant supply of renewably generated electricity.” Hansen is a farmer in Braderup, which has a population of 700. The new wind farm will provide an additional source of income for the rural region.

The new company will operate and manage the battery system that will store the energy from the planned six wind turbines (3.3 megawatts each). The technology and services company Bosch is developing the control electronics, is responsible for systems integration, and is testing different operating variants in Braderup. These include trading on the power exchange and stabilizing the power grid. These tests aim to validate the technical and financial benefits of the battery and provide valuable insights for new commercial projects.

By offering greater flexibility, such storage systems promote the more efficient use of renewable energies. Biogas or solar systems and co-generation plants can also store generated energy in the same way. The initiators of the wind farm benefit, among other things, from higher revenues.