One of the containers at the Dörverden hydro plant. Source: ads-tec.
A hydro power plant in Germany has installed a 3MW lithium-ion battery made by manufacturer ads-tec to perform frequency regulation.
The unsubsidised project will be used to balance the power from the 100-year old Dörverden hydro plant to maintain a grid frequency of as close to 50Hz as possible.
It is the first MW-scale battery in grid operator TenneT’s German network, according to Statkraft, the owner of the hydro plant, which says it has invested €4 million in the project.
“The rising percentage of renewable power generation demands flexible solutions. Lithium Ion batteries are, due to their technical properties, perfectly suited for the quick balance of fluctuating generation from wind and solar power,” said Dr. Pieter Schipper, senior vice president continental assets and market access, Statkraft.
The battery system has been spread across three containers at the site with about 14,000 cells used in total.
“We actively participate in the development of new technologies to find and enable new solutions for the changes in the power market,” said Urban Keussen, CEO, TenneT TSO GmbH. “Therefore we are happy to have the first multi-megawatt facility of its kind in our grid area with the battery storage constructed by Statkraft. Its prequalification for the control reserve market is a further step on the road to stronger integration of renewables in the system,” he added.