By 2020, the municipality of Bordesholm in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, intends to supply itself exclusively using renewable energies.

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Image: Storage system with SMA battery inverters ensure electricity supply even in grid failure. Photo: Courtesy of SMA Solar Technology AG.

A ten-megawatt storage system that has now been put into operation provides the primary operating reserve required for this and ensures the supply of electricity in the event of grid failure. SMA Solar Technology AG (SMA) supplied a coordinated system solution for the project which comprises Sunny Central Storage battery inverters and SMA Hybrid Controller and is equipped with new additional stand-alone mode, black start and grid resynchronization functions.

“Our Sunny Central Storage battery inverters are the ideal partners for the ten-megawatt storage system in Bordesholm,” said Mohamed Mostafa, Head of Industrial Storage Solutions at SMA. “The seven powerful Sunny Central Storage inverters and one SMA Hybrid Controller to control the entire system perfectly integrate the storage system into the utility grid. The battery inverters are equipped with the new grid formation and black start functions and can form a stand-alone grid within milliseconds for an uninterrupted electricity supply should the utility grid fail.”

“With the innovative battery inverters from SMA, the 15 MWh battery storage system can provide 10 MWh of primary operating reserve,” explained Dr. Matthias Leuthold, head of the storage business at Renewable Energy Systems Deutschland GmbH (RES). “With their new functions, the Sunny Central Storage battery inverters from SMA enable residents’ supply to be secured even in the event of grid failure. This was one of the most important criteria for our customer, regional utility company Versorgungs betriebe Bordesholm (VBB). In addition, further services such as black start capability and stand-alone mode can be integrated into the utility grid. Both functions were tested during commissioning and completely met our expectations in terms of planned and unplanned grid disconnection.”

As the proportion of renewable energies used in utility grids increases, large, grid-connected battery storage systems such as that of project developer Renewable Energy Systems (RES) in Bordesholm are becoming ever more important for frequency control. On the one hand, they provide operating reserve for ensuring grid stability and on the other, they can ensure the electricity supply for a region if the main grid fails.

Source: Company Press Release