RWE combines hydropower with mega batteries in €50m project

To ensure the reliability of its grid network whilst boosting environmental sustainability, German multinational utility RWE has embarked on a project that includes the integration of massive battery energy storage systems with hydropower.

RWE is investing €50 million ($58.7 million) for the development of two large battery energy storage systems in Lingen and Werne. The two energy storage projects will have a total capacity of 117MW.

The Lingen project will have a total capacity of 45MW whilst the Werne project will have 72MW. They will comprise 420 lithium-ion battery racks in 47 containers. The energy storage project is claimed to be one of the largest and most innovative in Germany.

Once complete in 2022, the projects will be virtually coupled with RWE’s run-of-river power stations. By raising or decreasing the flow-through at these power stations, RWE can make additional capacity available, also as balancing energy. This coupling process raises the total capacity of the batteries by 15%, according to a statement.

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The energy from the batteries will be used to provide frequency regulation within the main grid.

Roger Miesen, CEO of RWE Generation, said: “Battery storage systems are essential to the success of the energy transition. They help balance out fluctuations in the power grid, which are increasing as the share of renewable energies grows. Our project is setting new standards and shows how we can offer the market even more flexibility by intelligently linking up battery capacity with run-of-river power stations.”

NRW State Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Andreas Pinkwart: “Large battery storage systems in the megawatt category make a key contribution towards network stability in the new energy world. The implementation of this project at a power station with a tradition as long as Werne’s demonstrates impressively how competence and innovative technologies can be used to design the secure energy supply of the future.”

Olaf Lies, Lower Saxony’s State Minister for Environment, Energy, Building and Climate Protection, reiterates: “This secures jobs and prosperity in the region. And industry follows energy as these investments in the energy infrastructure act as a magnet for other branches of industry to settle in this region. So protecting the climate is so much more than just reducing carbon emissions – it is also leading our region as an industrial location into a new era.”