E.ON wins contract to support National Grid’s stability with an innovative battery solution

E.ON wins contract to support National Grid’s stability with an innovative battery solution

10 megawatt battery will contribute to keeping UK power supplies stable

Düsseldorf, Germany, 14-Sep-2016 — /EuropaWire/ — E.ON has been awarded a contract with the British transmission system operator National Grid to support the power grid’s stability with an innovative battery solution. With the strong growth of weather-dependent renewable sources such as wind and solar, the amount of power fed into the grid is becoming increasingly volatile. National Grid had therefore launched a tender for a new service to deal with volatile fluctuations. As one of the first of its kind in Great Britain, E.ON’s battery system will help balance demand and supply in real time ensuring that the power supply and quality is maintained. The solution makes it even possible to increase the share of renewable energy in the grid. The 10 megawatt (MW) lithium-ion battery with a size of four shipping containers has an equivalent power of roughly 100 family cars.

The tender for this new service was highly competitive; National Grid received 243 different tender options and awarded just 8 contracts. E.ON will build the 10 MW battery at E.ON’s Blackburn Meadows Biomass CHP and District Heating site near Sheffield. The system is planned to be operational by the start of 2018.

Karsten Wildberger, member of the E.ON board, said: “We are delighted to build one of the first commercial battery systems in the UK. This is a milestone for E.ON in the new energy world and an important recognition of the enormous potential battery solutions bear. We continue to work on new storage solutions going beyond security of supply, for example combining applications to increase self-consumption, shave peak-loads or to improve service for our industrial and commercial customers.”

Following the recent successful start of another large-scale battery project in the USA, this win confirms E.ON’s early mover position in battery technologies. Batteries are expected to play a key role in the new energy world largely dominated by renewable sources. At times of either an oversupply or an undersupply, E.ON’s battery system will respond within one second absorbing or discharging power into the local distribution network to which the battery is connected and thus maintaining the system frequency at a safe level.

Energy storage solutions like this are part of a broad portfolio of the integrated energy solutions that E.ON offers to its customers of all sizes, from the smallest residential customers to the largest industrial customers.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by E.ON Group management and other information currently available to E.ON. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. E.ON SE does not intend, and does not assume any liability whatsoever, to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.

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SOURCE:  E.ON SE