The need to ensure renewable energy resources can meet baseload power demand is intensifying the race for giant battery storage systems across Europe.

Siemens Smart Infrastructure and German grid operator Zukunftsenergie Nordostbayern GmbH are the latest companies to join the race to improve battery storage, by planning to develop a 100-MW lithium-ion battery storage facility in the town of Wunsiedel.

The battery will be able to power 20,000 average German households once complete by providing them with electricity generated from renewable energy resources for use during peak demand periods.

Fluence, a joint venture of Siemens and AES, will provide the batteries for the project set to be constructed on a 5,000 square meter piece of land.

Siemens will be responsible for project management, including a technical implementation concept, as well as the construction of a medium-voltage switchgear system and connection to the high-voltage grid. Siemens and Zukunftsenergie Nordostbayern GmbH will also work together to develop a financing concept. 

Marco Krasser, Managing Director of SWW Wunsiedel GmbH, one of the partners in Zukunftsenergie Nordostbayern GmbH, said: “Electricity storage facilities are an important building block for shaping the future of energy.

“They can help stabilize the grid and make better use of energy generated from renewable sources. They draw surplus power from the grid and feed it back when electricity demand is higher. Smart storage technology will increase the local and national supply of green power. That is why we are gradually expanding the capacity.”

Bernd Koch, Head of Technology Performance Services at Siemens Smart Infrastructure Germany, adds: “This also benefits the upstream grid operator because it gives them more flexibility to compensate for voltage fluctuations, which are increasingly common because of the expansion of renewable energy generation.”

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Siemens’ project manager Andreas Schmuderer, reiterates: “For the network operator, the solution promises significant relief. Switching on and off large industrial plants in the grid area requires a lot of electricity.

“Up to now, the network operator has had to maintain considerable reserves. If these can be eliminated in the future, there will be great potential for reducing CO2 emissions in the local energy market.”