The combination of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict coupled with the need to tackle climate change has led to large-scale investment in renewable energy development such as wind, solar and hydro. For renewable sources to be an alternative to fossil fuels, considerable investments in storage projects are required to store excess for power supply when production is low.
1) Vattenfall (Sweden)
In March 2022, the Swedish group unveiled their new wind, solar, and storage hybrid project located south of Rotterdam. In total, the project will consist of 115,000 solar modules, 150 turbines, and a storage capacity of 12MW. Vattenfall’s Energypark Haringvliet site will be one of the first projects to combine wind and solar with storage as usually wind and solar projects do not overlap due to the complexity of project development. The €61m investment will focus on avoiding grid congestion which is a major issue the Netherlands have struggled with and will do so with the implementation of battery storage. The solar park was co-developed with Belectric and the battery was provided by Alfen, using the same battery system as the electric BMW i30. The project is a cornerstone in the Netherlands’ goal to increase storage development as the country has fallen behind its European counterparts and has removed the double taxation for the storage and sale of energy to promote development.
2) EDP (Portugal)
Portuguese renewables developer announced plans to improve their 5MW floating PV project at their Alqueva hydropower dam site with the addition of a 1/2MWh battery storage system. The innovative idea will streamline asset efficiency and energy output. The project uses floats made from recycled plastic and cork composites, produced by Corticeira Amorim and Isigenere, reducing the carbon footprint by 30% compared to previous methods. The floating project is due to undergo further expansion with plans to increase the capacity to 70MW. EDP aims to be at the forefront of floating PV projects as their popularity continues to rise due to decreased land availability and falling production costs.
3) RWE (Germany)
The German renewables giant continues to improve their portfolio by developing new sites and optimizing existing projects, such as their Pydon Windfarm. RWE announced plans to develop a 30MW battery storage for the wind farm and will become the largest AC-coupled battery developed by the company in America. The German-based group will also provide 9.9MW storage to their Pyron and Inadale wind farms. RWE has diverged from the current trend to partner solar and storage projects, instead, they are focusing on coupling wind and storage. The limitations faced are plentiful as larger batteries are required and the intermittent nature of wind energy production complicates battery storage. However, RWE remains confident they possess the skillset to develop the hybrid project which will, if successful improve energy storage and grid reliability.
Image Source Unsplash 23.7.22