With today's delivery of three battery storage containers, each weighing 44 tonnes, the EEW Group's first battery storage facility has reached a major milestone. The modules, which will be able to store up to 15 megawatt hours of energy in future, form the heart of the new storage facility, which EEW is implementing in collaboration with Tricera.
Last week, the medium-voltage switchgear weighing around 38 tonnes was installed using a telescopic crane – a central element that connects the storage technology to the public power grid. The inverters and transformers have also already been installed.
‘Today's step marks the final major milestone before commissioning,’ says EEW project manager Christian Schüttenhelm. ‘The battery storage system will not only make our plant in Premnitz more flexible, but also more future-proof. We are systematically developing our power plants into grid-friendly storage power plants – and thus making an active contribution to the energy transition.’
System-relevant technology
In future, the battery storage facility will temporarily store energy – precisely when there is a surplus of electricity in the grid. If necessary, the stored energy can be fed back into the grid when it is needed, for example to stabilise the grid frequency or to meet peaks in demand. Battery storage facilities of this size are capable of compensating for short-term fluctuations in the electricity grid and thus contribute to security of supply – especially in a volatile energy market with a growing share of renewable energies.
A step into the future – at the traditional Premnitz site
With the integration of storage technology at the Premnitz site, EEW is further expanding the site's role as a high-performance energy supplier. Premnitz already reliably produces electricity for more than 40,000 households – around the clock, from waste energy, supplies the industrial park with process steam and generates district heating for Premnitz and the city of Brandenburg an der Havel. In future, this energy will no longer be provided only as base load, but will be fed into the grid flexibly and according to demand.
‘Premnitz combines tradition with the future,’ says Klaus Piefke, Technical Director of EEW Premnitz. ‘We are the first in Germany to use battery storage technology in combination with a thermal waste treatment plant – a model that can serve as an example for other sites.’