Storage specialist Fluence has launched Ultrastack, a battery energy storage system (BESS) for storage as a removable resource (SATA). It is designed to help grid owners and operators manage renewable energy constraints, increase power line utilization and limit congestion.
Unlike “regular” large batteries, SATA projects are used to mimic transmission line currents by injecting and absorbing power. In such applications, they can be used to reinforce or even replace existing power lines, providing infrastructure planners with a new, versatile solution for transitioning to transmission.
After several SATA projects, Fluence has now launched Utrastack, “its most efficient energy storage product to date”. To meet the complex requirements of transmission system operators, the new system has a number of advanced features, such as fast response times of less than 150 milliseconds, NOC interface and IT security, and high availability of over 99%.
With such features, Ultrastack can provide a wide range of proprietary control applications and services, including reactive power and voltage regulation, black start, virtual synchronous machine, synthetic inertia, primary frequency control, emergency power input, automatic control and power oscillations. attenuation.
Fluence now has several SATA projects underway. In 2021, it commissioned 1 MW/1 MWh in Lithuania, demonstrating that storage is an integral part of the power transmission grid and maintains grid stability and reliability through standby power, frequency and voltage control. synthetic inertial response. This has been followed by the ongoing commissioning of four 50 MW / 50 MWh SATA projects in Lithuania.
In Germany, Fluence is currently delivering a 250 MW Netzbooster (Grid Booster) project to TransnetBW, the transmission system operator of the state of Baden-Württemberg. The task of the system is to increase the efficiency of the existing network infrastructure and reduce congestion by providing backup capacity to maintain the stability of the electricity system in the event of a network failure.
Two more 100 MW grid booster projects are planned, which have not yet been awarded by Germany’s TenneT. In addition to this, the German transmission system operators propose 750 MW of additional power according to the first draft of the two-year grid development plan 2037/45 published last week.
Elsewhere in Europe, Red Electrica is planning a tender for the SATA project from the mainland in order to increase the utilization rate of the connections between the Balearic Islands. Meanwhile, a gigawatt-scale SATA pipeline is being set up in the UK, where National Grid ESO will procure grid stability services such as short-circuit level and inertia from privately owned assets under its Stability Pathfinder Phase 2 programme.
Although the application of BESS as a transferable asset is still in its early stages, some market participants and analysts see considerable promise in it. Research group S&P Global predicts 17 GW/50 GWh of energy storage systems will be deployed worldwide by 2030 to boost or delay investments in improving existing power grid infrastructure.
