Power generation firm Hidroelectrica has enlisted local firms Prime Batteries Technology and Enevo to deploy a large-scale BESS project in Romania.
The state-owned firm announced the completion of the tender procedure for the 36MW/72MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) to be deployed at its 108MW Crucea Nord Wind Farm last week (7 April).
It is the first lithium-ion BESS for the company, which operates over 7GW of hydropower.
It sought a BESS for the site to reduce internal imbalances of the wind plant within its portfolio, as well as provide system balancing services and decrease wear and tear on the wind plant itself. Local reports said the wind plant has been operating at a significant loss due to unfavourable balancing requirements.
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Prime Batteries Technology and Enevo Group won the contract which is worth 79.8 million RON (€16 million/US$18.2 million) excluding VAT, and the project needs to be completed within 12 months of it being signed. The nominal power of the system will be 36MW with a nominal energy storage capacity of 72MWh.
Prime Batteries Technology is a Romania-headquartered battery technology company which provided the BESS for a 6MW/24MWh project for independent power producer (IPP) Monsson, inaugurated in April last year. Enevo meanwhile is an engineering and consulting firm.
In a follow-up interview last year, a board member of Monsson claimed that Prime Batteries manufactured the battery cells locally for integration into Monsson’s own BESS solution (Premium access article) and the project was celebrated as a beacon of hope amidst a tough time for Europe’s nascent battery industry.
Monsson has gone on to reveal even larger projects, including a 2GWh early-stage one, which will also be built with its own energy storage solution.
Like numerous other European Union (EU) Member State countries, Romania has leveraged EU funds to kickstart its energy storage industry in the face of rising balancing costs as more solar and wind plants come online. Large-scale BESS projects from developers we’ve reported on in the past year in Romania include a 254MWh project from R.Power, a 70MWh one from Electrica, and a 204MW one from Electric Spot.
IPP Econergy told Energy-Storage.news last year it was planning to deploy BESS at many of its solar PV projects in Romania, where it is the largest operator of solar PV.
