Saft has been awarded a megawatt-scale Li-ion (lithium-ion) battery energy storage contract by Fortum, the Finnish energy company. A Saft Intensium Max containerised battery system, with a nominal output of 2 megawatts (MW) and 1 megawatt hour (MWh) of energy capacity, will be installed at Fortum's Suomenoja power plant as part of the largest ever electricity storage pilot project in the Nordic countries.
Fortum's objective is to research the suitability and optimum usage of batteries used for storing electricity to maintain a power balance in the electricity system. In addition, the research will explore new opportunities offered by electricity storage and by the flexible intermediate storage of electricity. The battery project is an extension of Fortum's pioneering experiment, started in March 2016, in which a virtual power plant (VPP) based on demand flexibility is being built together with customers. The capacity of this power plant will be offered to the national grid company Fingrid to maintain a continuous power balance in the electricity system.
Tatu Kulla, Head of Operations, Fortum, said: "Increasing the amount of energy produced with solar and wind power will increase the need for regulating power that balances the electricity network and for new storage solutions. When the weather is sunny or windy, there is plenty of energy production, but less demand, so it makes sense to store the electricity. In this project, we are also researching new business models that can be developed with electricity storage for electricity companies and customers."
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