ENERGY STO­RAGE
FOR THE INFRA­STRUC­TURE

Energy sto­rage sys­tems are play­ing an incre­asingly important role in the rea­liza­tion of the energy tran­si­tion in the sys­tem infra­struc­ture, both in the elec­tri­city and hea­ting sec­tors and now also in mobi­lity — on roads, water, and in the air.

In the elec­tri­city sec­tor, the main focus lies on large gene­ra­tion faci­li­ties and trans­mis­sion net­works. The chall­enge regar­ding trans­mis­sion net­works is to opti­mize the exis­ting capa­ci­ties and balance load peaks, such as those cau­sed by the gene­ra­tion peaks of pho­to­vol­taic (PV) instal­la­ti­ons. At the same time, it is cru­cial to main­tain the grid fre­quency sta­bi­lity, which requi­res balan­cing gene­ra­tion, con­sump­tion, and reac­tive power to ensure a relia­ble power sup­ply.

For deca­des, pum­ped sto­rage has domi­na­ted this sec­tor. Ger­many has more than 30 pum­ped sto­rage power plants (PSW), with a total capa­city of around 40 GWh and a power out­put of 6.4 GW. This still accounts for about 90 per­cent of the entire elec­tri­city sto­rage capa­city in Ger­many.

Apart from that, large-scale bat­tery sto­rage is incre­asingly gai­ning importance in the sys­tem infra­struc­ture. Their very fast response times mean that bat­te­ries can pro­vide important sys­tem ser­vices par­ti­cu­larly effi­ci­ently and opti­mize grid uti­liza­tion. This means they are able to react to chan­ges in the grid within mil­li­se­conds and sup­ply or absorb power. Alt­hough there is still signi­fi­cant poten­tial and demand for new high-per­for­mance pum­ped sto­rage plants in Ger­many, bat­tery sto­rage sys­tems offer more decen­tra­li­zed fle­xi­bi­lity. Curr­ently, about 1.1 GW of large-scale bat­tery sto­rage is instal­led in Ger­many. The Fede­ral Net­work Agency has recently included a need for 27 GW in the grid deve­lo­p­ment plan.

Sto­rage sys­tems are incre­asingly being used at large wind or solar PV parks to smooth out the feed-in of wind and solar power and cap­ture gene­ra­tion peaks. This ensu­res a fle­xi­ble and con­ti­nuous power sup­ply from rene­wa­ble sources and avo­ids curtailm­ents of wind power. These sto­rage ser­vices drive the energy tran­si­tion for­ward and save costs at the same time.

Large-scale ther­mal energy sto­rage is typi­cally used as part of dis­trict hea­ting net­works to ensure the heat sup­ply to con­nec­ted cus­to­mers. Sto­ring excess heat energy can com­pen­sate for fluc­tua­tions in heat gene­ra­tion from rene­wa­ble sources such as solar ther­mal or bio­mass. They help reduce the use of fos­sil fuels and increase the share of rene­wa­ble ener­gies. At the same time, they enhance sup­ply secu­rity and enable more effi­ci­ent use of gene­ra­tion capa­ci­ties.

Large-scale ther­mal energy sto­rage can also func­tion as buf­fer sto­rage in elec­tri­city grids, play­ing an essen­tial role in sta­bi­li­zing the grid. In times of excess rene­wa­ble energy, sur­plus elec­tri­city can be used for heat gene­ra­tion, for exam­ple, in heat pump ope­ra­tion or power-to-heat sys­tems. This way, a more effi­ci­ent cou­pling of the elec­tri­city and heat sec­tors can be achie­ved.

Mobile ther­mal sto­rage sys­tems are also incre­asingly being used in the sys­tem infra­struc­ture. In par­ti­cu­lar, whe­re­ver the con­s­truc­tion of a hea­ting net­work encoun­ters dif­fi­cul­ties, mobile ther­mal sto­rage sys­tems can close sup­ply gaps and deli­ver rene­wa­ble heat to the cus­to­mer in a pre­cis­ely fit­ting man­ner

The mar­ket entry of hydro­gen as an energy car­rier is immi­nent in the field of sys­tem infra­struc­ture as well. First con­ver­sion mea­su­res for sto­rage infra­struc­ture in caverns have alre­ady begun, and elec­tro­ly­zers are in the plan­ning stage. Hydro­gen offers signi­fi­cant poten­tial as a long-term sto­rage solu­tion as a rene­wa­ble energy car­rier but is also incre­asingly being used in mobi­lity and as a repla­ce­ment for fos­sil fuels in the indus­try.

Energy sto­rage tech­no­lo­gies are of par­ti­cu­lar importance for the mobi­lity infra­struc­ture. Espe­ci­ally for fast-char­ging sta­ti­ons and char­ging parks for mul­ti­ple elec­tric vehic­les, they are beco­ming an indis­pensable com­po­nent. Buf­fer sto­rage or inte­gra­ted bat­te­ries ensure high char­ging power and effec­tively reduce char­ging time. Expan­ding the power grid takes time and is cos­tly, while sto­rage solu­ti­ons can offer a quick and fle­xi­ble alter­na­tive, espe­ci­ally in urban areas.

Char­ging sta­ti­ons with inte­gra­ted buf­fer sto­rage now enable char­ging capa­ci­ties of up to 350 kW. This means an elec­tric vehicle can be rech­ar­ged within about 15 minu­tes wit­hout put­ting an extra­or­di­nary bur­den on the power grid.

Bat­te­ries, in par­ti­cu­lar, are also used to sup­ply ships and port infra­struc­ture. The group of sto­rage tech­no­lo­gies, sum­ma­ri­zed under Power-to‑X (Power-to-Gas, Power-to-Liquids, Syn­fuels, etc.), also allows for the inte­gra­tion of rene­wa­ble fuels in avia­tion and heavy-duty trans­por­ta­tion, dri­ving the energy tran­si­tion in the trans­por­ta­tion sec­tor.

BVES is actively pro­mo­ting the broad use of energy sto­rage sys­tems as a pro­vi­der of the neces­sary fle­xi­bi­lity and as a gua­ran­tee of sup­ply secu­rity in the sys­tem infra­struc­ture of elec­tri­city, heat, and mobi­lity. Many appli­ca­tion areas are still new and urgen­tly need regu­la­tory con­side­ra­tion and sim­pli­fi­ca­tion. A uni­form appr­oval prac­tice would be an important first step.

The BVES working groups sup­port and accom­pany the imple­men­ta­tion of new energy sto­rage pro­jects in Ger­many, ana­lyze the legal frame­work, and deve­lop impro­ve­ment pro­po­sals. Finan­cing lar­ger pro­jects by banks, finan­cial ser­vice pro­vi­ders, and insu­r­ers is a cen­tral issue in rea­li­zing the con­s­truc­tion of large-scale sto­rage faci­li­ties. The­r­e­fore, the Finance Working Group deals with the ana­ly­sis of busi­ness models, and the deve­lo­p­ment of incen­tive sys­tems for fle­xi­bi­lity solu­ti­ons, and faci­li­ta­tes dis­cus­sions bet­ween inves­tors, banks, and insu­rance com­pa­nies.

Addi­tio­nally, the Norms and Stan­dards depart­ment works on the deve­lo­p­ment of inde­pen­dent tech­ni­cal con­nec­tion regu­la­ti­ons for sto­rage sys­tems to ensure a uni­form and secure inte­gra­tion of sto­rage into the energy sys­tems.