French electric utility EDF (Electricité de France) is evaluating use
of an advanced Li-ion battery storage system for grid frequency
regulation at its Concept Grid Lab. Located south of Paris at EDF’s
R&D site in Les Renardières, Seine-et-Marne region, EDF's Concept
Grid Lab is a live power distribution network designed to support, help
design and test “bleeding” and cutting-edge smart grid technology.
EDF will be testing the 1-MW Li-ion smart power storage system's
ability to maintain frequency levels on its Concept Grid Lab test grid
over the course of about a year. Alstom and Saft supplied the system. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The R&D lab enables EDF to subject the storage system to extreme
conditions – spikes and troughs in grid frequency well outside the
bounds experienced on commercial grids for example, Saft marketing and
business development manager Michael Lippert said in an interview.
Using a smart Li-ion battery storage solution to maintain grid
frequency levels within required bounds “is quite an innovative and
forward-looking,” as well as critical, utility application of the
technology in France, as well as in Europe more generally, Lippert
pointed out.
Faster, Smarter and More Precise
Traditionally accomplished by maintaining reserve generation capacity
of around 5 percent across conventional power plants – in most cases
nuclear or coal-fired in France – “frequency regulation is a must in
order to balance electricity supply and demand, maintain the stability
and performance of the grid” and avoid brownouts and blackouts, Lippert
explained.
The general view is that smart battery storage systems can respond much faster
to spikes and drops in grid frequency than reserve capacity at
conventional power plants – in a matter of milliseconds, Lippert
explained. In addition to much faster response and power ramp-up and
ramp-down times, the Alstom-Saft solution can maintain grid frequency
with much greater precision and efficiency, he said.
In France power producers such as EDF are obligated to maintain the
frequency of electricity flowing on power grids. “It's a somewhat
different market model than that of the U.S.,” Lippert pointed out. Saft delivered its first containerized, utility-grade Intensium Max
smart Li-ion battery storage system in 2012. Since then, the company has
installed about 80-MWs of such systems worldwide.
Growing Market Demand, and Applications
Saft's Li-ion battery storage technology is up and running at remote
sites where weather and climate conditions can be extreme, including
Alaska, Bolivia and a remote Canadian community north of the Arctic
Circle. The technology is also being used on island nations, including
Japan and the Faroe Islands between Denmark and Finland. The company is targeting French territories such as La Réunion in the Indian Ocean and French Caribbean islands, Lippert said.
More broadly, the U.S. and the Americas number among Saft's most
important markets, Lippert noted. In the U.S., Saft's utility-grade
Intensium Max systems have been installed in California and Hawaii, as
well as Alaska. When it comes to grid applications, renewables integration is the main focus in Europe. Besides EDF's installation, Saft's Intensium Max Li-ion solution has been integrated with PV generation for the city of Nice's power grid
and integrated with wind power generation at the Venteea wind farm.
Located at Aube in eastern France, the 2-MW/1.3-MWh smart Li-ion energy
storage system at Venteea is the largest installed in France to date.
Smart Li-ion battery storage is on the rise as part of microgrid installations
as well, Lippert noted. Providing ancillary grid services, such as
frequency regulation, as well as smart grid applications that time-shift
or shave peak electricity demand, have emerged more recently but are
increasing as well, he added.
In addition to these markets and applications, Saft is supplying
smart Li-ion energy storage solutions for mobility – electric vehicles
(Evs) – as well as telecommunications. It also offers a
residential-scale Intensium Home system that's popular in Germany.
Looking to bridge the gap between residential and commercial
applications, Saft rece
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