The electricity storage system operator Energy Cells haves started testing operations of the first system of battery farms in the Baltic States. This year, 312 battery cubes, transformers and other equipment specially designed for the farms were constructed and connected in 200-megawatt battery farms installed in electricity transformer substations in Vilnius, Šiauliai, Alytus and Utena districts.
It is planned that Energy Cells will be ready to offer the instantaneous reserve service by the year-end. The energy storage system will be integrated into the grid of the electricity transmission system operator Litgrid.
“Battery farms not only guarantee the security and stability of energy supply, but will also enable us to disconnect from the BRELL system and synchronise with the continental European electricity grid earlier, already in 2024,” said Minister of Energy Dainius Kreivys during his visit to the battery farm on the outskirts of Vilnius.
The system of battery storage facilities, designed to ensure the instantaneous energy reserve for Lithuania, will comprise four battery farms in Vilnius, Šiauliai, Alytus and Utena with 312 battery cubes – 78 in each farm. The total combined capacity of the energy storage system to be integrated into the Lithuanian grid by Energy Cells will be 200 megawatts (MW) and 200 megawatt-hours (MWh).
“We will be ready to provide the instantaneous reserve service by the end of this year. If needed, we will be able to supply electricity to the grid until other sources of electricity supply – first of all, Kruonis Hydro Power Plant – become operational,” said Energy Cells CEO Rimvydas Štilinis.
The system of energy storage facilities of Energy Cells is of particular importance until synchronisation with the continental Europe grids until energy systems of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia operate in the BRELL ring. After synchronisation with the CE grids, the battery farms will be able to store solar or wind energy and feed it into the grid during peak hours of consumption.
The lithium-ion battery farms installed by the consortium of the US and German companies Fluence and Siemens Energy will operate as a single system, one of the largest and one of the first in Europe. The energy storage facilities system will be able to supply electricity to the grid in 1 second.
Energy Cells received EUR 87.6 million from the NextGenerationEU Recovery and Resilience Facility under the “New Generation Lithuania” plan for the installation of the energy storage system. The total value of the project, which will provide Lithuania with the instantaneous power reserve and the possibility to operate autonomously in isolated mode, will amount to EUR 109 million.
Energy Cells, appointed as the energy storage facilities system operator, is wholly owned by EPSO-G – the energy transmission and exchange companies’ group. The rights and obligations of the sole shareholder of EPSO-G are implemented by the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Lithuania.
More about the project – www.energy-cells.eu.
