The expansion of renewable energies in Germany is to be greatly accelerated. By 2030, the German government has set itself the goal of 80% renewable energies in the German power supply. However, ensuring more sustainable energy generation is only one side of the coin. On the other side, the power grid, which transports renewable electricity to consumers, must be adapted to this new highly volatile power production. However, grid expansion is already lagging far behind the expansion of renewables, resulting in the curtailment of significant amounts of renewable energy. In our article "Why about 3% of renewables are shut down annually", we go into detail about the shutdown and its reasons. In addition, the expansion of renewables is increasing volatility on the generation side, which urgently needs to be countered with increased flexibility on the transport and consumption level.
"Increased volatility on the generation side due to the expansion of renewables must be addressed by increased flexibility at the transmission and consumption levels."
The creation of flexibilities is of equal importance to the creation of generation capacities in order to achieve the climate protection goals. Pumped storage power plants are already being used as flexible power plants to store some of the solar power generated during the day and shift its use to the evening hours. However, their use is only possible to a limited extent on a regional basis. In the future, storage power plants, especially large-scale battery storage, will be used to balance the increasing fluctuations in the electricity market. If large-scale battery storage is built as grid-connected ("stand-alone") storage, it can be used to benefit the entire energy system - i.e. the generation, transport and consumption levels.
Large-scale battery storage can be used to improve system and supply security and to support energy markets. Specifically, large-scale battery storage can be used for the following purposes:
1. balancing energy: serves as a reserve to compensate for short-term fluctuations in the electricity grid frequency and to maintain the constant frequency of 50 Hz. With the help of balancing energy, electricity can be drawn from the grid as well as fed into the grid. Large-scale battery storage systems are one of the few systems that can provide both positive and negative balancing energy within milliseconds.
2. intraday trading: Volatility on the spot market increases with the expansion of renewable energies. Battery storage systems use trading on the intraday market to keep shortfalls or surpluses as low as possible. In this way, energy is purchased at a favorable time and fed back into the grid at a later point in time at a profit. This so-called arbitrage trading counteracts price fluctuations on the electricity market.
3. peak shaving: If a load peak occurs above a defined limit value, this is capped by the large battery storage system. The storage system provides the necessary electricity accordingly. This keeps the grid consumption below the defined value.
4. congestion management: Congestion management (redispatch) refers to the intervention of the grid operator in the planned schedule of conventional power generation plants to shift the feed-in in order to prevent or remedy power overloads in the electricity grid. Large-scale battery storage systems can go beyond normal redispatch and not only be throttled to zero like generation plants, but also serve as consumers in order to additionally avoid the shutdown of other generation plants.
5. reactive power: Reactive power is the part of the power provided by the grid that is generated by the interactions in an alternating current system and cannot be actively used by consumers. During the idle period, large-scale battery storage systems can make reactive power available to the grid operator through bilateral contracts. This means that the storage system can also be used during the idle phase.
6. black start: Black start capability is the ability of a power plant - independent of the power grid - to start up from a shutdown state. This is particularly important in the event of a widespread power outage in order to restart the energy grid. In addition to hydroelectric power plants or the gas-fired power plants that will be undesirable in the future, large-scale battery storage systems are almost the only plants with black start capability.
The special feature of battery storage systems therefore lies in their ability to be used in a multifunctional way. To enable battery storage systems to develop their full potential for the energy system of the future, Kyon Energy has introduced the multi-use strategy. From a functional point of view, multi-use strategy means that the battery storage system is used for different purposes in terms of its multiple application capabilities. From an energy system perspective, multi-use strategy means that the various (system) services provided by the storage device are used profitably for the transformation of the German energy system and its increasing need for flexibilities. From an economic perspective, multi-use strategy means that the battery storage system can combine a wide variety of revenue streams and offset market risks by orchestrating its flexibilities.
In the design of business models for large-scale battery storage, the multi-use strategy is an important principle of Kyon Energy. This allows large-scale battery storage to develop its full potential and contribute to the transformation of the energy system. By tapping into different revenue streams in combination with a technical system design tailored to them, a robust and economically attractive business model is created.
.png){kind=logo}
