Many cities around the world are growing rapidly, which increases the need for electricity. In the city of Uppsala, Sweden, a possible solution is being developed, piloting one of Sweden’s largest battery storages to meet the increased demand, enable continued expansion and mitigate increased capacity needs.
The area of the battery storage in about half a football field in size and provides a capacity corresponding to what it takes to power Uppsala municipality’s entire street lighting. Uppsala, like many other cities, sometimes has a high load on the electricity grid, especially on cold winter days when industries go on full speed and the households heating needs are peaking. On those days there may be a transmission capacity shortage, in other words it will be crowded in the power lines.
Solves both capacity and balance
The new battery and technology are at the forefront. What’s unique about this project is that it can support both Uppsala’s electricity grid capacity as a service for Vattenfall Eldistribution, and help Svenska Kraftnät (the Swedish power grid authority) in its role to balance the frequency in Sweden. The battery storage will have a delivery capacity of 5 MW and about 20 MWh – e.g. 4 MW in 5 hours. It consists of four modules and a 10 kV switchgear, and will be connected to the 10 kV distribution system.
Testing business models for best use
The battery storage pilot is part of an innovation project where the power company Vattenfall studies how to combine different kinds of services, as well as how to control and operate the services. The project will test and evaluate various business models and what it takes to act in different markets, such as the CoordiNet flexibility market, with the battery storage. Other challenges are to identify obstacles and opportunities within the framework of the regulation. The general objective is to identify the services that best fit a battery in order to obtain the best economy in a battery storage.
Benefits with battery storage
Building electricity grids takes time and a long-term work with long permit processes before the process can start. Battery storage is faster to build and is one of several solutions to be used until the electricity grid is supplemented. The project is run by Vattenfall Eldistribution and Vattenfall Network Solutions.
