A unit of industrial service provider Bilfinger won an order from Siemens Gamesa to build a heat storage system including reconversion to store excess renewable energy in Hamburg.

After researching the innovative new storage technology, Siemens Gamesa late last year had already said it will go ahead with its plan for a 1.5MW system that uses inexpensive rocks as a battery to store heat derived from wind power.

Plant engineering along with the water-steam cycle will be provided by Bilfinger, while the heat storage, boiler and turbines will come from Siemens.

“Germany’s energy transformation is in full swing. The order from Siemens Gamesa shows that there’s also demand for our expertise in the area of renewable energies,” Bilfinger chief executive Tom Blades said.

In the plant for the storage of excess electrical energy, power generated from wind is used to heat rock-fill protected by an insulation jacket. In this way, energy can be stored in a cost efficient manner.

To allow for later feeding into the power grid, airflow transmits the heat stored in the rocks to a conventional, high dynamic steam power plant. The plant’s steam generators convert the energy back into electricity.

The company carrying out the order is Bilfinger Engineering & Technologies in close cooperation with Bilfinger Rohrleitungsbau.

The company has already been involved in the construction of a test facility for heat storage – the preceding project.

The heat storage system was developed by Siemens Gamesa together with the Technical University Hamburg-Harburg and local utility Hamburg Energie.

Transition

Bilfinger to build heat storage system for Siemens Gamesa