Page 13 - ESJ – ENERGY STORAGE JOURNAL

NEWS

Battery maker to use VRLA

plus solar for Portugal project

Exide Technologies will would be charged by the
use its VRLA lead acid bat- solar panels, with surplus
teries alongside solar pan- energy stored for use at
els to power its production night-time and during pe-
plant in Portugal, the US riods of reduced sunlight.
battery maker announced Surplus power will be fed
on April 10. on to the grid when the
The system will cover plant’s energy consump-
part of the power demand tion was lower.
at the facility in Castanhei- The project forms part of
ra do Ribatejo when com- a range of investments by
pleted in the first quarter Exide at its Castanheira
of next year. plant, including the start
Exide will use a 50kWh of a AGM Network Power
VRLA battery storage sys- production line.
tem consisting of 280 cells Stefan Stübing (pictured
using Sonnenschein A602 with EDP’s Vera Pinto
from Exide’s subsidiary Pereira), Exide’s president
GNB Industrial Power. EMEA, said he believed
The system will be cou- more and more companies
pled with some 10,000 would rely on self-gener- The project will be man-
photovoltaic panels and ated power backed by a aged and delivered by en- Upside Group
around 70 inverters. BESS in years to come. ergy provider EDP. The commissions
Exide will power the The systems will cover batteries would be charged 25MWh of Pb-C
workers’ dressing room part of the power demand by the solar panels, with stationary storage
with a Sonnenschein A600 at Exide’s production fa- surplus energy stored for
Solar gel battery with cility in Castanheira do use at night-time and dur- Solar power plant and
0.5MWh capacity. The Ribatejo and its battery re- ing periods of reduced sun- battery storage system
room will work as an iso- cycling plant in Azambuja light. group of companies
lated island powered by PV when completed in the first Surplus power will be Upside Group fired up
during the day and batter- quarter of next year. fed on to the grid when the a 16MW/25MWh lead
ies at night. The systems will include plant’s energy consump- carbon energy storage
The project will be man- around 10,000 photo- tion was lower. system in Europe on
aged and delivered by en- voltaic panels, around 70 The project forms part of May 3, expanding its
ergy provider EDP work- inverters and a 500kWh a range of investments by own battery portfolio
ing with Exide, which will bank of GNB Sonnen- Exide at its Castanheira to 40MW, the firm
deliver the energy storage schein A600 VRLA batter- plant, including the start of announced.
component. ies from Exide’s subsidiary a AGM Network Power The Dülmen, Germany-
EDP said the batteries GNB Industrial Power. production line. based firm said the
storage would stabilize
Capitol Hill hears case for lead the grid 24/7 in an
energy climate that
from industry thought leaders was seeing more and
more grid fluctuation,
with frequency being
The US debate over the co-founders from the Ad- Tim Ellis, president of RSR adjusted several hundred
merits of energy storage vanced Energy Storage Technologies and chair of thousand times a year.
and the benefits of lead bat- Caucus — congressmen the Consortium for Battery Chinese firm Narada
teries in the future of the Mark Takano, a Democrat Innovation, predicts lead made the 10,500 lead
country were discussed in a representative from Cali- battery cycle lives of around carbon cells for the
special panel session organ- fornia and Chris Collins, a 3,000 would be achieved by system.
ized by Battery Council In- Republican for New York. using second generation car- Upside Group
ternational held on Capitol The caucus is technology bon additives and bipolar partnered Narada in
Hill in Washington DC on neutral and chemistry ag- batteries next year. September 2018 in a lead
February 12 in advance of nostic and looks at energy This compares with the carbon energy storage
National Battery Day, Feb- storage from a variety of average cycle life of 750 in system in Leipzig,
ruary 18. viewpoints that include en- 2000 — meaning lead bat- Germany — one of five
The meeting was led by vironmental sustainability, tery performance has im- planned to deliver grid
the head of BCI, Kevin Mo- recyclability, affordability proved six-fold in 20 services.
ran and two of the 2017 and utility. years.

www.energystoragejournal.com Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2019 • 11