Spanish developer Acciona Energia has opened the country’s first hybrid wind power storage project, a pilot scheme to trial the best ways to integrate green energy into the grid and tackle the intermittent nature of wind.
The experimental wind farm, located in the in Barásoain region of Navarra, comprises five 3MW Nordex-Acciona turbines.
The project was stared up earlier this year, as previously announced. However, this week’s official inauguration marked the connection between the battery storage plant, located in the immediate vicinity, and one of the AW116/ 300 turbines.
The plant is equipped with a storage system that consists of two batteries located in separate containers: one fast-response battery of 1MW/0.39 MWh (capable of maintaining 1MW of power for 20 minutes) and other slower-response battery with greater autonomy (0.7MW/0.7 MWh, maintaining 0.7MW for 1 hour).
Both have Samsung SDI Li-ion technology connected to the 3MW wind turbine, from which they will capture the energy to be stored.
The facility has another three units, one for medium voltage cells and analysers, another for inverters/chargers and an Ingeteam transformer, and a third for control and monitoring equipment.
The pilot project uses the software to simulate storage systems and improve the quality of energy sent to the grid. According to Acciona, other functionalities will also be analysed, such as the provision for ancillary services to the grid – needed to maintain a constant balance between supply and demand – or the postponement of the entry of power into the grid to times when demand is higher, to improve the economic performance of the installation.
“It is the first facility of its type incorporated into a grid-connected wind farm in Spain, with the idea of applying technical solutions to increase the penetration of renewable energy-based systems in the transmission system and optimise the management of the energy produced,” the Spanish developer said.
The goal is to develop technical solutions and skills that could be applied, at a later date, in commercial wind farms, “with the aim of increasing the contribution of renewables to the grid and optimising the management of the energy produced”, it said.
“Renewables will make up the energy model of the future, and in this irreversible process storage will be a major ally in facilitating the complete – and early – disappearance of fossil fuel-based energies,” added Acciona chief executive Rafael Mateo.
“With this pilot wind farm, we wanted to be ahead of curve, so that when the cost of batteries comes down, we will be well placed to take advantage of this growing (storage) market,” said Mateo. “Storage and batteries will be very important in markets where wind is intermittent and has occasional connection problems, like India or Australia.”
Moving forward, the pilot plant will be operated from Acciona’s renewable energy control centre (CECOER), which currently has over 13GW under operation world-wide.
