ENERGY IS WHERE PEOPLE ARE
Case study: Smart Grid Innovation Center, Customer: Romande Energie
©EPFL
Customer
challenge
Romande Energy is a Swiss Utility
providing electricity to consumers and
businesses in the Swiss “Canton de
Vaud”. It provides energy to more than
300,000 customers and has a network
spanning more than 9,000 km.
Romande has the challenge, like many
other utilities, that the share of energy from
renewable sources is increasing however
these sources cannot be controlled,
managed and dispatched through their
Scada system like conventional energy
generators.
When the share of renewable energy in
the grid becomes high, it can cause grid
stability issues due to the sudden drop of
power when the production is not stable
due to variation in wind or cloud coverage
on PV systems.
The other challenge is to gain experience
in building the “smart grid”, especially
in introducing several new technologies.
The storage systems, the PV generation
and the high speed power control are
part of the smart grid strategy. A test plant
running in real operating conditions is a
valuable asset to evaluate the opportunity
and the weakness.
Challenge
•
•
•
Test
technology
to
manage large shares of
renewable energy at peak
times.
Prevent grid instability
Gain experience with
energy storage as key
technology in smart grids
of smart grids
©Alain Herzog /EPFL
The Solution
Solution
Installation of a 500kW lithiumtitanate storage system with
high charge and discharge
rates & huge amounts of
cycles.
A battery system makes the energy from a
solar plant dispatchable and controllable.
When the grid is being used at it’s
maximum capacity, the energy from the
solar plant can be temporarily stored in
the battery system. At a later moment the
energy from the battery can be dispatched
and sold.
At the same time the battery system will
help to smoothen short term variations in
the energy productions due to changing
weather conditions.
Romande Energy has, in cooperation
with the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de
Lausanne (EPFL), the technical university
of Lausanne, established a Smart Grid
Innovation Centre where a Leclanché
battery storage system operates to test
Benefits for the
customer
By using battery storage in their system,
Romande Energy will be able to utilize
more renewable energy in their electricity
mix. This energy comes at a much
lower variable cost and will be wasted
at certain times in the day. The business
case for Romande Energy consists of
and demonstrate the potential of battery
storage in the electricity grid.
The system is a 500kW / 500kWh
containerised battery system with
Leclanché’s Lithium Titanate battery
modules which have the capability to
be charged and discharged (cycled) up
to 15,000 times while going to a 100%
discharge rate. This gives these batteries
a long life and high reliability making them
a financial stable and low-risk investment
asset.
In grid stability applications it is important
that a battery system has the capability to
charge and discharge at a fast rate so it
can capture the energy most effectively
and provide the required power to keep
the grid stable.
various
components:
postponement
of investments in grid assets, further
reduction of CO2 emissions and avoiding
CO2 emission cost and reduction of
operational cost by better use of renewable
energy in their supply mix.
Installation summary
Client
Location
System
Romande Energy & EPFL Lausanne
EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland
Leclanché 750 kW / 500 kWh Lithium Titanate battery system
Leclanché was founded in 1909 in Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland, and has one of
the strongest legacies in the field of battery manufacturing worldwide. In addition to
its headquarters in Switzerland, the company has a state of the art, automated cell
production facility in Willstätt Germany.
Leclanché, which is quoted on the Swiss stock exchange (SIX:LECN), developed from
a manufacturer of lithium-ion batteries into a supplier of turnkey and custom-designed
energy storage solutions.
Today, across its three business areas of Generation & Transmission, Transportation
& Industrial Machines, and Specialty Batteries, Leclanché delivers energy storage
solutions a broad range of applications to many industries, including energy, residential,
renewable energy, medical technology, electro-mobility and marine.
Leclanché SA
Av. des Sports 42
CH-1401 Yverdon-les-Bains
Tel: +41 24 424 65 00
[email protected]
www.leclanche.com