Siemens Smart Infrastructure, Erlangen, Germany, and Fluence, Arlington, VA, United States, – a Siemens and AES Corp. company – have been awarded a contract by the Portuguese energy provider EDA – Electricidade dos Açores to build a battery-based energy storage system on Terceira, the second biggest island in terms of electrical consumption of the Azores archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean. The project aims to make the island more sustainable and is scheduled for completion in 2021.
The Azores have nine isolated autonomous energy systems with significant potential for renewable energy, mainly from wind, hydro and geothermal sources. “The energy storage system we’re implementing will help Terceira Island transition to a new energy mix. The technology will enable an increased share of renewable energy, limiting the consumption of fossil fuels and significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It will also strengthen the island’s energy independence by providing more flexibility, capacity, resilience and autonomy to its power grid,” explained Fernando Silva, Director of Smart Infrastructure at Siemens Portugal.
The system uses Fluence’s latest generation technology, which combines factory-built hardware, advanced software and data-driven intelligence. With a power capacity of
15 megawatt (MW), the
Gridstack system will be one of the largest stand-alone (island)
battery-based energy storage systems in Europe. Pre-configured to handle the most demanding grid applications, it will mainly regulate frequency and
voltage of the electrical grid, increase the security of supply providing spinning reserve, and absorb and store excess energy produced by renewable sources and feed it back into the grid during times of peak consumption or low production.
Implementing this system, associated with
a further expansion up to 6 MW of renewables or endogenous resources, such as geothermal, will enable the island to double its share of renewables in the medium-term, from 20-30 percent to more than 60 percent. Replacing a part of the diesel-based power supply with renewables will result in a
reduction of 1,150 tons in annual diesel consumption, and a decrease of CO
2 emissions by more than 3,500 tons per year. This roughly corresponds to the CO
2 emissions of about 1,500 cars driving approximately 20,000 km per year.
To increase the system’s efficiency, a sophisticated microgrid management system will be used. It affords real-time monitoring and control of the entire infrastructure as well as prediction of energy consumption, production and usage of storage for several hours or even days based on weather forecasts. “This enables us to set out an optimized operation strategy and reach an optimal balance between consumption and production of energy, and increase the security of supply for our customers” said Duarte José Botelho da Ponte, Chairman of the Board of Directors of EDA – Electricidade dos Açores. “With the storage technology in combination with the microgrid application, we aim to maximize the integration of renewable energy sources on Terceira. At the same time, we would like to ensure a power supply at the highest standards of quality and reliability.”
About Siemens Smart Infrastructure
Siemens Smart Infrastructure (SI) is shaping the market for intelligent, adaptive infrastructure for today and the future. It addresses the pressing challenges of urbanization and climate change by connecting energy systems, buildings and industries. SI provides customers with a comprehensive end-to-end portfolio from a single source – with products, systems, solutions and services from the point of power generation all the way to consumption. With an increasingly digitalized ecosystem, it helps customers thrive and communities progress while contributing toward protecting the planet. SI creates environments that care. Siemens Smart Infrastructure has its global headquarters in Zug, Switzerland, and has around 72,000 employees worldwide.
About Siemens AG
Siemens AG (Berlin and Munich) is a global technology powerhouse that has stood for engineering excellence, innovation, quality, reliability and internationality for more than 170 years. The company is active around the globe, focusing on the areas of intelligent infrastructure for buildings and distributed energy systems, and automation and digitalization in the process and manufacturing industries. Through the separately managed companies Siemens Energy, the global energy business of Siemens, and Siemens Mobility, a leading supplier of smart mobility solutions for rail and road transport, Siemens is shaping the energy systems of today and tomorrow as well as the world market for passenger and freight services. Due to its majority stakes in the publicly listed companies Siemens Healthineers AG and Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (as part of Siemens Energy), Siemens is also a world-leading supplier of medical technology and digital healthcare services as well as environmentally friendly solutions for onshore and offshore wind power generation. In fiscal 2019, which ended on September 30, 2019, Siemens generated revenue of €86.8 billion and net income of €5.6 billion. At the end of September 2019, the company had around 385,000 employees worldwide.
