Enercon starts offering wind plus storage as turnkey solution
German OEM launches integrated offering first in its home market, coinciding with Husum Wind exposition
Enercon is starting to offer wind turbines with integrated storage as a turnkey solution, beginning in its German home market.
The launch of ‘wind plus storage’ by the premium manufacturer is timed to coincide with the Husum Wind trade fair that starts in the northern German town on Tuesday and runs through Friday.
The turnkey integration of battery energy storage systems and a hybrid controller in new or existing wind farms enables operators to access future-proof revenue opportunities and is the key to a regulated energy system based on renewable generation technologies, said Enercon.
“The implementation of hybrid projects is challenging in terms of the technology, regulations and commercial aspects,” Enercon product manager Karen Hernandez said.
“Upon request, we offer support to our customers throughout the entire project process – from the sizing of the hybrid power plant, its financing, project implementation and commissioning to the long-term maintenance.”
The company said it can draw on more than 15 years in the field of hybrid projects, and will also supply the necessary hardware and software components. An example is a hybrid controller that coordinates the wind turbines, battery energy storage system, grid and further controllable units for seamless grid integration and smart operation, or substations for direct feed-in to the public high-voltage grid.
The hybrid solutions will open up new revenue streams for operators, Enercon said.
“In addition to the fact that intermediate storage allows more energy to be monetised – energy that would otherwise be curtailed – other remuneration opportunities arise from providing system services for grid regulation or through optimised energy marketing”, Enercon CCO Uli Schulze Südhoff said.
The battery storage systems make it possible to intermediately store both green energy from onshore wind and energy from the grid, Enercon added.
From a legal approval perspective, however, operators need to make a decision according to current regulations.
“The main benefits of storing green energy from the wind farm are the accelerated approval procedure for battery storage systems, as well as the opportunity to avoid wind farm curtailments,” said Benjamin Seifert, regional head of the central northern Europe region at Enercon.
“The so-called ‘overbuilding provision’ also enables the available infrastructure to be used more efficiently and to feed in energy from the wind farm and battery storage system via the same grid connection point.”
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