Topping-Out Ceremony in Hamburg-Altenwerder: Siemens Gamesaâ€™s High-Performance Energy Storage Facility Enters Final Construction Phase

Siemens Corporation Sep 29, 2018

- Innovative Electric Thermal Energy Storage (ETES) facility offers storage capacity of 30 MWh

- Key technology for a successful energy transition

- 1,000 tonnes of thermal rock material store renewable energy at a low cost

- Storage costs well below ten euro cents per kilowatt hour in commercial operations

To kick off the Global Wind Summit, comprising WindEnergy Hamburg, the world’s leading wind energy expo, and the global WindEurope conference, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE) will celebrate the topping-out ceremony of its electric thermal energy storage (ETES) facility in Hamburg-Altenwerder. With this innovative storage system, Siemens Gamesa is providing an answer to one of the central challenges facing the energy transition: how to make the supply and demand for electricity from renewable energy sources more flexible. The facility can store up to 30 MWh of energy and boasts maximum scalability at a low investment cost. The pilot facility is currently in the final construction phase, and all of the storage facility’s buildings and main components have already been completed.

The storage facility, able to hold the daily energy requirements of 1,500 German households, is set to be commissioned in 2019. Scientists from the Institute of Thermo-fluid Dynamics at the Technical University of Hamburg and the energy supplier Hamburg Energie have been involved in the development. Hamburg Energie will sell the stored power on the energy markets. Hamburg’s municipal energy supplier developed an IT platform to which the storage unit is connected. The platform guarantees that maximum possible proceeds are achieved by an optimized storage usage. The Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy is promoting storage development as part of the Future Energy Solutions project.

Renewable energies are available in large quantities when there is plenty of wind and sun – often more than the electricity grids can transport today. Storage facilities are used to buffer periods of low production, for example when there is a lull or it is dark. A lot of storage facilities have limited capacities or the storage technologies are too expensive, however. With ETES, Siemens Gamesa has developed a storage facility that reduces the construction and operating costs of larger storage capacities to a fraction of the usual level for battery storage. In commercial use, the technology can store energy at a cost of well below ten euro cents per kilowatt hour.

The simple thermal principle of the storage facility is based on known components which are used in a new combination. For example, fans and heating elements from series production are used to convert the electrical energy into a hot air flow. The same applies to reconversion: a highly dynamic Siemens steam boiler is used as standard in a steam turbine to produce electricity at the end of the storage chain. Siemens Gamesa invested the largest amount of research in the insulating container filled with a rockfill, the core of the innovation. In this research project, the Siemens Gamesa team investigated the thermofluid-dynamic principles of bulk material storage technology. Their findings enable scaling to the current scale.

“We are proud to be able to offer this important technology as a fully functional solution for our customers after just a few years of development work,” says Hasan Özdem, Head of Technology Management and Projects at Siemens Gamesa. “A very interesting option of our technology is to convert decommissioned thermal power plants into high-performance storage facilities for renewable energies at a low cost.” With this second-live option, the majority of components such as grid connection, turbines and generators can continue to be used.

After extensive tests, the new storage facility is to be incorporated into regular operations in partnership with Hamburg Energie GmbH.

About Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy

Siemens Gamesa is a global leader in the wind energy industry with a strong presence in all areas of the wind business. According to MAKE Consulting, the company ranks first in the offshore business, is number two in onshore wind energy and is the third largest provider in the service business. In 2017, Siemens Gamesa was number one in the industry with a 17 per cent share of newly installed wind power.

Through its advanced digital technology, the company offers one of the broadest product portfolios in the industry and industry-leading service solutions that help to make green energy cheaper and more reliable. With an installed capacity of 87 gigawatts worldwide, Siemens Gamesa produces, installs and services onshore and offshore wind turbines. It has an order backlog of EUR 23 billion. The company is headquartered in Spain and is listed on the Spanish stock exchange (traded on the Ibex-35 Index).

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Beatriz Rodríguez