Daimler AG and its cooperation partners, the 100% subsidiary Mercedes-Benz Energy GmbH, GETEC ENERGIE AG and the technology company The Mobility House AG, have put a further innovative battery storage plant into operation. A total of 1920 battery modules are bundled in a plant in Elverlingsen in South Westphalia to create a “live replacement parts store” for the fleet of third generation electric smarts. The stored battery modules are sufficient for at least 600 vehicles. With installed power output of 8.96 MW and energy capacity of 9.8 MWh, the battery storage plant is available to the energy market, for example for supplying primary balancing power. Its modular design enables the system to continuously and fully automatically stabilise the power grid with balancing power.
With its partners, Daimler is connecting the third large storage plant made of car battery systems to the grid. Together with the 12.8 MWh 2nd life battery storage plant that opened in Elverlingsen in 2016 and the 17.4 MWh replacement part storage facility in Hanover, almost 40 MWh of energy will soon be on the grid. All three projects were realised without public funding.
Added value at the beginning of the battery life
The “active” storage of the lithium-ion battery modules at the ENERVIE AG power station site in Elverlingsen is like a fountain of youth for the battery systems used for electric mobility. To be usable as a replacement, a battery needs regular cycling during the storage period – deliberate, battery-conserving charging and discharging. This prevents exhaustive discharge which can lead to a battery defect. At the same time the partners are reacting efficiently to the growing demands to compensate grid fluctuations and are presenting an attractive business case, as the systems provide a service on the German market for primary balancing power before they are potentially used in electric vehicles from Daimler AG. A maximum reaction time of 30 seconds is required to ensure grid stability. The storage system in Elverlingsen reacts much faster – within milliseconds. The requirements for frequency control and the compensation of grid fluctuations are far exceeded here.
Shining example of the energy turnaround
The “live replacement parts store” based on electric car battery systems was constructed in Elverlingsen on the site of the former coal-fired power station that was built in 1912 and recently shut down. The large storage plant is therefore a symbol for the transformation in the storage and use of energy – away from fossil electricity grid supply and towards a sustainable extension of the e-mobility value chain that reduces CO2. With the replacement part storage concept The Mobility House AG, GETEC ENERGIE AG and Daimler with its subsidiaries Accumotive and Mercedes-Benz Energy are creating a new kind of win-win situation and supporting the progress of the energy turnaround.
