Finnish project developer of energy and storage systems Wärtsilä has been commissioned by Zenobe, a provider of energy infrastructure systems, to install a large storage facility in north-east Scotland. After all, the system will temporarily store 400 MWh of electricity and reconnect it to the grid with an output of 200 MWh.
Integration of wind power from the coast
The site at Blackhillock in north-east Scotland has been carefully chosen. Because there, the storage facility can integrate wind energy into the grid produced by offshore stations off the coast. To do this, it will be connected directly to the local transport network – the first of its kind in Great Britain. According to Wärtsilä, the system is the first project to be installed as part of the national grid’s NOA Stability Pathfinder program. This program for transmission system operator National Grid is about finding cost-effective ways to maintain grid stability even as shares of volatile generation systems such as photovoltaics and wind power increase.
Equipped with smart inverter technology
The system at Blackhillock will also have this task. Zenobe will operate the storage facility, which is supposed to compensate for the differences between feeding electricity and consuming electricity—including short-circuit resistance and artificial inertia, which are necessary for the efficient operation of the grid with fewer fossil-fuel power plants. For this purpose, the storage system is equipped with appropriate inverter technology to make the most of the system in terms of system stability.
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Network data analysis permanently
Wärtsilä will also equip the storage facility with the GEMS Digital Energy platform, which was developed by the Finns themselves. This is a new energy management system that controls storage and is equipped with artificial intelligence. The machine learning function will continuously analyze the historical and current state data of the network and reset power management so that the system can react faster to any changes. In this way, the system will optimize grid operation while simultaneously being able to incorporate increasing amounts of green electricity. In addition, the GEMS Fleet Direct system and power station control module will enable the Zenobe operator to remotely monitor and control the storage facility and use diagnostic functionality to increase system integrity, availability and flexibility. (see below)
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