AES Energy Storage is helping to provide a secure, reliable electricity supply in Zeeland, the Netherlands

(16.12.2020) 

Battery-based energy storage is a vital enabler of the transition to clean energy. This is becoming more and more clear as adoption of renewable technologies expands across the globe. Renewable power is the future, but this power is intermittent and variable – there are occasions when solar generation is impacted by cloud cover or solar panels covered by snow, and wind generation is impacted by anticyclonic conditions. This variability is part of the reason why the European Commission has recognised the importance of storage in unlocking the transition towards a carbon-neutral economy, by balancing power grids and providing capacity in the context of variable renewables.

Indeed, the EU has developed several energy storage expansion initiatives in recent times, such as the EU Battery Alliance. In this regard, the Commission tabled on 10 December a new Batteries Regulation to provide an updated battery policy framework in view of the essential role of batteries in achieving a zero-emissions EU society by 2050, and also to ensure the future competitiveness of Europe in the context of the Green Recovery and the global battery market. The Regulation also aims to ensure the sustainability and safety of batteries throughout their entire life cycle.

A key benefit of storage technologies is their ability to stockpile power for later usage, to augment grid stability and reliability, and improve the overall integration of renewable sources into power grids, by helping to manage the variability of renewable generation. In essence, energy storage increases energy security.

It is for such reasons that AES has implemented and continues to develop advanced, ambitious energy storage projects in numerous locations around the world. One such example is its project AES Energy Storage Zeeland, which provides 10 megawatt hours (MWh) of storage capacity in the Netherlands, in the country’s south-west region of Zeeland. This project was one of the first to be built in The Netherlands following the publication by the Dutch Government of the “Netherlands Energy Storage Roadmap.”

AES Zeeland consists of 123 energy storage units (nodes) incorporating lithium ion technology, and with its Power Conversion System (PCS) it converts electrical energy stored in the battery modules into utility grid electricity – and grid electricity into stored energy. Specifically, the system stores renewable energy from nearby solar and wind farms when this energy is in abundant supply, and then delivers it to the regional electricity grid when those renewable sources are lacking. In this way, AES Zeeland helps to smooth and shift renewable energy generation to match electricity demand. In other words, the facility stabilises power system frequency, and adds capacity to the grid.

The Zeeland facility also incorporates state-of-the-art Advancion™ technology. Advancion™ was developed using AES’ thirty years of industry experience and provides smart and cost-competitive alternatives to traditional hydroelectric pump storage projects. It is fully scalable and highly versatile storage technology, and can be applied to electrical grids, specific power generation plants or even in isolated power systems.

Moreover, an interesting and novel aspect of the Zeeland facility is that it is managed remotely from AES’ European operations base in Bulgaria. Ivan Spiridonov, who is the Electrical Team Leader at AES’ Bulgarian power plant AES Galabovo, explained how Zeeland is operated remotely via a Human Machine Interface (HMI) software system by AES Bulgaria’s operational staff, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. They constantly observe the status and performance of the facility, along with adjusting specific settings and troubleshooting when required. Furthermore, two members of AES Bulgaria’s trading team, Diyan Panderov and Todor Arhinkov, are responsible for the daily and weekly trading of AES Zeeland, as well as the facility’s daily reporting procedures. This work is also done in coordination with the AES teams in Amsterdam.

AES is proud to be an industry forerunner in storage technologies, and its facility at Zeeland serves as a major boost to the stability of the power system in the Zeeland region, adding a significant 10MW in capacity. Zeeland is AES’ first energy storage project in Europe, but it is one of many across the world – including the 400 MWh storage system for Alamitos Energy Center (Southern California) and the 560MWh storage project in Chile, to name but a few. Furthermore, to date, AES’ joint venture with Siemens – Fluence is the world’s leading developer of battery-based energy storage with  100 energy storage projects with delivery and integration in 160 countries, totalling approximately 2.4GW in additional storage capacity.

At AES, we are committed to accelerating the future of energy and we are leading the transition  to clean energy by developing and deploying innovative solutions across the entire sector – as a company, we are excited about using our proven capability and industry expertise to drive the energy storage revolution – now and in the future.