‘With the battery storage facility in Premnitz, we are consistently developing our plants,’ explains Joachim Manns, COO and member of the EEW Group's Executive Board. "We are making our power plants fit for the future: they will remain a stable pillar of energy supply, but in future they will be able to store energy flexibly and feed it into the grid when it is needed. In this way, we are expanding our business and making an even greater contribution to the stability of the electricity supply.‘
’In Premnitz, we reliably generate energy from waste in the form of district heating, process steam and enough electricity to supply more than 40,000 households per year," explains Klaus Piefke, Technical Director of EEW Premnitz. With the new battery storage facility, this electricity can be used even more efficiently in future: ‘We store it when the grid cannot absorb it immediately and then release it when it is needed – whether to stabilise the grid frequency or to cover peak demand. This not only makes our site more efficient, but also more flexible – and at the same time strengthens the security of the energy supply in the region.’
The first milestone of the project is the construction of the foundation, which is starting these days. Delivery and installation of the storage modules is planned for autumn, with commissioning scheduled for the fourth quarter of this year.
EEW is investing several million euros in the construction of the battery storage facility. It is an important milestone that will pave the way for storage solutions at other EEW sites.
EEW is pursuing a clear strategy with the integration of battery storage systems: The existing base-load power plants will be expanded so that they can respond flexibly to demand for electricity, process steam and district heating in an increasingly volatile energy market.
The Premnitz site will serve as a blueprint for further developing the technology within the group and expanding its business with innovative storage solutions.