The storage system is used for grid regulation, for primary regulation energy and for re-search into smart grid functionality and is connected to the power supply network of the Brunsbüttel public utility company. 

In order to complete a long-term changeover to renewable energy sources, it is necessary to stabi-lise the energy flow from volatile generators in the public grid. In Schleswig-Holstein there is a lot of renewable energy generated from wind. This in particular requires intelligent and highly flexible en-ergy storage systems in order to protect future power supply networks from shortages and over-loading. 

The storage power plant is operated by the energy company Wind to Gas Energy GmbH & Co. KG which was founded just two years ago and which operates its own 15 megawatt wind farm. Its key objective is to utilise energy storage through conversion into gas and to forge ahead with the mar-ket optimisation of storage technologies. Unlike gas storage, lithium-ion battery technology has the advantage of being extremely flexible. Within milliseconds, power can be collected from the grid and fed into the grid again just as quickly.Wind to Gas works for the grid operator Tennet, which requires this service for a stable electricity flow. The plant is a research project sponsored by Germany's Federal Ministry of Economics. It is part of North Germany's energy revolution 4.0 and one of the first large-scale grid stabilisation projects to be realised through an initiative by the fed-eral government in the north of the country. 

ADS-TEC's new StoraXe battery power plant at its site in Brunsbüttel is a high-performance system with a capacity of 2.5 MWh and a power output of 2.5 MW. It can be completely charged and dis-charged within one hour and collects/feeds large amounts of power from/into the grid in millisec-onds. This provides a highly dynamic buffer in order to smooth energy peaks in the power supply network and to make the volatile generation of power from renewable energy sources available at all times. To illustrate the scale of the storage plant, its capacity can be compared to that of about one million mobile phone batteries. 

The plant is a complete system including a transformer, inverter, control unit and climate control technology. It is connected directly to the power supply network of the Brunsbüttel public utility company. In just 8 months, the plant from ADS-TEC was ready to use and integrated in the control centre of the Brunsbüttel public utility company. Like all previous battery storage systems from ADS-TEC, it was prequalified straightaway. "We are pleased that we were able to realise the plant in such a short time and that it could be handed over for regular operation without problem," says the delighted ADS-TEC project manager Helmut Söldner. 

The battery power plant is used for research into the smart grid of the future. Together with Frau-enhofer ISIT from Itzehohe, alternative operating concepts for battery storage systems are being tested. Wind to Gas is thinking about further battery storage power plants: "Industrial companies could also benefit from these batteries as a way of compensating their peak loads", says Tim Brandt, managing director of Wind to Gas Energy.

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