Li-ion batteries and supercapacitors hybridised in project ViSynC

Project ViSynC combines the two forms of energy storage systems and will be connected to the Spanish transmission grid to enable ‘synchronous grid-forming’ services.

Electric services company Redeia, Spanish electric utility Red Eléctrica and Redeia’s tech platform Elewit announced the project, which combines and optimises lithium-ion and supercapacitor technologies, to provide multiple services to the power grid system.

Management of the hybrid storage system will be carried out through a specific control system that allows it to operate in synchronous grid-forming mode.

According to the project partners in a release, ‘synchronous grid-forming’ is a promising control typology for power electronics converters.

It allows storage systems, which incorporate power electronics for connection to the network, to establish the frequency reference of the network and provide services that synchronous generators can provide, but current generators cannot, based on conventional power electronics or grid-following, such as inertia or short-circuit current.

The new storage system will be connected to the high-voltage transmission network in the Lanzarote-Fuerteventura electrical system, specifically at the Mácher 66kV substation.

Once connected, it will operate as an integrated network asset, providing a variety of services to guarantee the safe operation of the electrical system and the increase in integration of renewable energies.

The project, a collaboration with Hesstec, CEN Solutions, S2 Grupo and CERE, seeks to develop and validate the hybrid storage system at scale.

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Storage systems on the grid

Storage solutions can contribute significantly to facilitating the integration of renewable energies, providing services to the electrical system and responding to different types of events and needs.

This ranges from very power-demanding services that require a very quick response, almost instantaneous, for seconds or minutes, to services with longer response times.

This ability to provide multiple services can improve the economic viability of storage systems, however, responding to this variety of needs with a single storage technology, for example, lithium-ion, implies excessive oversizing of the storage system or premature degradation.

This is where the use of hybrid storage, capable of taking advantage of the synergies of combining different storage technologies, is hoped by the partners to step in and respond to the needs of the electrical system in an optimised way.

The ViSynC project, funded by the European Union, Spain’s Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, IDEA, the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan and Almacenamiento, has a total budget of €7.9 million ($8,4 million).

Of this, the project will receive a direct subsidy of €3 million ($3.2 million) from the first call for aid for innovative energy storage R&D projects within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience belonging to PERTE ERHA, which is managed by IDAE.

According to Spain’s Energy Storage Strategy, it is necessary to increase energy storage capacity from 8.3GW in 2021 to 20GW by 2030.

This significant increase will help achieve the renewable integration objectives established in the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC) and the Long-Term Decarbonization Strategy.