RWE has announced details of an innovative battery storage system in Germany that will virtually couple batteries with its run-of-river power stations along the river Mosel, increasing capacity by another 15%.
A battery system with a total capacity of 117MW is being installed at the company’s power plants in Lingen (Lower Saxony) and Werne (North Rhine-Westphalia), with these being coupled with the existing hydropower stations. By raising or decreasing the flow-through at these power stations, RWE can make additional capacity available, also as balancing energy. The company is investing around €50 million in this project, and expects the project to start operations at the end of 2022.
“Battery storage systems are essential to the success of the energy transition. They help balance out fluctuations in the power grid, which are increasing as the share of renewable energies grows,” explained Roger Miesen, CEO of RWE Generation. “Our project is setting new standards and shows how we can offer the market even more flexibility by intelligently linking up battery capacity with run-of-river power stations.”
The planned system comprises 420 lithium-ion battery racks, housed in 47 overseas shipping containers spread across two RWE power stations. The system at the Gersteinwerk in Werne will have a capacity of 72MW while the one at the Emsland station in Lingen will have 45MW.
