Siemens Gamesa has committed to putting more resources towards developing battery storage technology.
The company is now testing a battery storage technology with large future potential. At SGRE’s La Plana R&D site near Zaragoza, Spain, a redox flow energy storage system has been commissioned. The system is connected to the hybrid controller of the combined wind and PV generation system and supplements the lithium-ion batteries that have been in use there for two years.
The La Plana test-site integrates the next-generation Vanadium redox energy storage system with a wind turbine, solar-PV modules and a diesel generator. The new redox flow battery offers a 120kW energy output with a storage capacity of 400kWh. Siemens Gamesa has been refining its knowledge in hybridization over years. A sophisticated flexible hybrid controller is the resulting product of this R&D effort. It is the digital core that coordinates the generation of all energy sources to meet the electrical load, in order to reduce the LCoE of the plant regardless of whether the grid is connected or disconnected. To reduce energy costs, the controller is targeting to achieve the maximum integration of renewable energy.
To support the efficient dispatch strategy steered by intelligent control algorithms, a large storage capacity helps to keep generators to their technical minimum load and to enhance the share of renewables – even when low wind periods and cloudy sky occur at the same time.
“With the Redox-Flow technology commissioned at our La Plana test site, we are now active in all relevant storage technologies including Power-to-Heat and also battery storage systems,” says Antonio de la Torre, SGRE’s chief technology officer.
In 2014, Siemens Gamesa announced it was constructing its first 60Hz G114-2.0 MW wind turbine from Gamesa Technology, located at the Reese Technology Center in Lubbock, Texas.