Acciona Energia has opened up a battery storage plant alongside a wind farm in Barasoain, located in the region of Navarra, Spain.
According to Acciona, the plant is the first facility of its type incorporated into a grid-connected wind project in Spain. In attendance at the facility’s opening ceremony were Manu Ayerdi, vice president for business development of the government of Navarra, and Rafael Mateo, CEO of Acciona Energia.
At the ceremony, Mateo referred to the key role that storage will play in a low-carbon transmission system:
“Renewables will make up the energy model of the future, and in this irreversible process, storage will be a major ally in facilitating the complete – and early – disappearance of fossil fuel-based energies”.
The plant is equipped with a storage system that consists of two batteries located in separate containers: one fast-response battery of 1 MW/0.39 MWh (capable of maintaining 1 MW of power for 20 minutes) and a slower-response battery with greater autonomy (0.7 MW/0.7 MWh, maintaining 0.7 MW for 1 hour). Both have Samsung SDI Li-ion technology connected to a 3 MW AW116/300 wind turbine of Acciona Windpower (Nordex Group) technology. The wind turbine is one of five that make up the Experimental Wind Farm at Barasoain, operated by the company since 2013.
The facility has another three units – one for medium-voltage cells and analyzers, another for inverters/chargers and a transformer (installed by Ingeteam), and a third for control and monitoring equipment.
The main goal of the battery storage facility is to improve the quality of the energy sent to the grid. Acciona has developed its own control software for the plant, plus a simulation program that can optimize storage systems for integration into wind farms.
The project has received funding from the European Regional Development Fund, which manages the Centre for Industrial Technological Development in Spain.
