PowerField installs first batteries for energy storage

In the coming weeks, PowerField will install batteries for the storage of solar energy. These batteries will be installed at Dutch solar parks in Valthermond and Wanneperveen and are PowerField’s first projects where solar energy is combined with energy storage. With 52 MWh, the battery in Wanneperveen will be one of the largest batteries in the Netherlands.

PowerField is installing the batteries to make optimal use of grid capacity. This solution makes it possible to store energy produced by a solar park in a battery. When there is high demand for energy, the need for sustainable power can be met through the battery. This reduces the capacity problems that occur within the Dutch power grid.

”As a developer and owner of solar parks, we take our responsibility to contribute to the optimal use of the available grid capacity. With these batteries, PowerField does not call upon the reinforcement of the Dutch power grid,” said Ivo van Dam, PowerField’s Chief Technology Officer. ”In addition to these two projects, PowerField has several initiatives planned for large-scale battery solutions in the future.”

Solar parks in Valthermond and Emmen

The first battery will be installed at PowerField’s solar park in Valthermond and will have a capacity of 12 megawatt hours (MWh). The solar park, which will be built and commissioned this year, will be connected to the existing connection at solar park Emmen. Normally, this solar park would not be able to be connected to the grid until 2028, but thanks to the battery, this is already possible in 2023.

Energy storage at solar park Wanneperveen

Solar park Wanneperveen will be supplemented with a 52 MWh battery. This is one of the batteries with the largest capacity in the Netherlands.

Because of this battery, PowerField only needs a part of the allocated grid capacity at peak times. The capacity that is released can be used by grid operator Enexis for other renewable energy projects. At times when insufficient grid capacity is available, the battery stores the generated power.

Time-based contract

Last year, grid operator Enexis and PowerField started a pilot, in which PowerField has flexible access to transmission capacity from the electricity grid at times when that capacity is available. In this way, solar park Valthermond can be connected to the solar park in Emmen, and solar park Wanneperveen can reduce the existing fixed connection at certain times.

Ivo van Dam: ”With PowerField we want to build Europe’s largest virtual power plant, by combining solar energy with battery storage and charging points for electric cars through our subsidiary PowerGo. We are therefore very much looking forward to starting our first energy storage projects.”