The growth of renewable energy is expected to continue to grow worldwide. The challenge lies in matching how energy is generated and consumed. Reason for the TMC Entrepreneurial Lab to work on energy storage which leads to more possibilities in residential areas. Jan-Jaap Koning, Employeneur TMC Science & Technology MidWest: “The solution lies in large-scale storage of electrical energy closer to big cities.”

Decentralized generation with various local sources such as solar panels and wind turbines lead to increased congestion on the electricity system. “Energy is generated locally and transported to consumption locations. In the past, you could balance supply and demand on the grid by switching (gas) turbines on or off. Nowadays the power comes from different sources and in a less controllable way. To be able to properly monitor this, there is an urgent need for large-scale storage. A storage which allows national energy suppliers to better coordinate supply and demand.”

The further the energy transition progresses, the more pressing the problem of energy generation and consumption becomes. In order to store and supply green energy in a regulated manner, there is a need for large-scale storage. The big question is: 'How do people get green energy throughout the day? Koning: “The demand is at its highest point in evenings and mornings. While the sun only shines during the day. With Novio ENSO we are working on solutions where green energy is available 24/7. This is not about transferring energy from summer to winter, but about how you provide green energy in the evening that comes from the sun and wind turbines,” Koning narrates.

Peak shifting

According to TMC's Employeneur, the missing link is the large-scale storage of electrical energy in our energy network. The moment energy from sun and wind is generated does not always correspond to the demand of users. The energy network needs a buffer that allows supply and demand to be adjusted to each other and reduces congestion on the grid. “There are currently five large storage systems operational, and they are located at wind farms along the coast. But they cannot put their electricity into the grid. Because when the wind is blowing, you’ll supply electricity to the grid at that exact moment, and many do so at the same time. When the grid cannot cope with the supply, they store it in their battery system, called peak shaving. Storage of green energy will lead to more options in residential areas, such as connections for gyms, charging stations, households and companies. It would be better to store this power close to the users.”

When the network becomes clogged, it is always in the cities. And that’s only getting worse, Koning explains. The storage system that TMC wants to install in a city with Novio ENSO is for users in the city. Customers are electricity companies that would like to rent the system. One that finds it important to be able to supply green energy. “If you build a parking garage that accommodates twohundred cars per floor, we can place a hundred batteries on the roof of that garage. With those batteries in the cities, you can shift the peak, which we call peak shifting. In fact, these batteries act as a buffer and we shift the peak of supply to the peak of demand. This way the city can always continue to use electricity.”

Demand capacity

The municipalities develop plans and look for a solution in the event of a shortage of grid capacity. Novio ENSO ‘only’ offers this solution, on both the medium-voltage grid of a national grid operator and on the high-voltage grid of Tennet. “The municipality must indicate their demand capacity to grid operator. They then see whether they can deliver, or not, and if we can help. It would certainly help if a municipality indicated their needs.”

Unavoidable

According to Koning, there are only advantages. With the batteries in the cities you use short cables, there is a faster response time and a buffer function which places supply over demand. “Batteries at a wind farm on the coast cannot provide help in the Randstad or in the east of the country. With batteries close to the city, you can respond faster to disruptions and you can stabilize the grid better because there is less cable in between. In addition, there appears to be a transport loss of 20% in the current network, and that will only increase if you have to continue to get that power from the coast.” The batteries Novio ENSO work with are used to trade in electricity. This contributes to their mission to provide a region or city with green energy at any time of the day. “Green energy is impossible without a buffer. Looking at the energy transition, it is inevitable for every city that wants green energy to have such a system.”