Company News

Enel, Enertrag and Leclanché team up to build storage plant in Germany

Tue Feb 20
  • The 22 MW Cremzow facility will be Enel’s first storage plant in Germany and will provide grid stabilisation services through primary frequency regulation
  • The project is jointly developed by Enel’s German renewable subsidiary Enel Green Power Germany and wind energy company ENERTRAG, in collaboration with Leclanché as EPC contractor
  • The investment planned for the construction of the new plant is approx. 17 million euros; the first 2 MW section of the facility is expected to be operational in April 2018, with the entire plant
    planned to come online by the end of the year

Rome/Berlin, February 20th, 2018 – Enel, through its renewables subsidiary Enel Green Power Germany (EGP Germany), has signed an agreement with German wind energy company ENERTRAG AG and Swiss energy storage solutions company Leclanché SA to build and manage a 22 MW lithium-ion battery storage plant in Cremzow, in the German state of Brandenburg. The project is Enel’s first storage plant in Germany and its construction will involve an investment of around 17 million euros.

The storage plant will provide frequency regulation services to Germany’s Primary Control Reserve (PCR) market to rapidly stabilise the grid, and will later be integrated with ENERTRAG wind farms. The first 2 MW section of the Cremzow plant is expected to be operational in April 2018, while the launch of the entire plant is planned for the end of this year.

“The project in Cremzow is an important milestone for us because, after the success of similar projects in Italy and Chile, it will further demonstrate how beneficial storage is for energy systems, in particular when coupled with renewables,” said Antonio Cammisecra, Head of Enel’s Global Renewable Energies division, Enel Green Power (EGP). “Storage is increasingly becoming a key tool in ensuring grid stability and is also a pathway towards the widespread adoption of renewables worldwide, facilitating their integration into power grids.”

Joerg Mueller, Head of ENERTRAG-Board said “commercial batteries and their ability to provide balancing power will be one of the key enablers for the next phase of the energy transition towards renewables. The Cremzow project will play an essential role in safely phasing-out lignite in the state of Brandenburg. As a next step, the Cremzow battery will address the proof of black start capabilities of ENERTRAGs renewable regional power plant in the Uckermark area.”

“We are delighted to have been chosen by Enel Green Power and ENERTRAG to develop and deliver this large pioneering energy storage project in Germany”, said Anil Srivastava, CEO of Leclanché.

“Battery energy storage systems have a very significant role to play in stabilising grids as the world transitions to greater use of variable renewable energy sources. They also help reduce the huge waste of renewable energy that is curtailed when grids are at capacity.”

The facility will be owned by a special purpose vehicle (SPV) in which EGP Germany has a 90% majority stake and ENERTRAG the remaining 10% stake. Leclanché will act as engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor for the project, in charge of integrating battery and power conversion systems and energy management software.

The project will provide the grid with a real-time primary frequency regulation service contributing to its stability. When the grid’s frequency decreases due to high power demand, the battery will rapidly deliver
its stored energy, while in response to frequency increases due to low demand, the battery is charged with the surplus energy. Furthermore, the integration with ENERTRAG wind farms will allow for the use of
surplus energy produced by the facilities to charge the battery, cutting back on the need to curtail wind power generation when it is higher than demand on the grid.

The German PCR market has evolved greatly in recent years with the early 2017 auction of approximately 600 MW of PCR attracting bidders from Austria, Belgium, France, Netherlands and Switzerland, whereby confirming the market’s cross-border appeal. The introduction of battery storage
systems is an important development in the German PCR market: in 2017, BESS (Battery Energy Storage Systems) provided about 200 MW of PCR, equal to about 31% of the market.

Enel Green Power, the Renewable Energies division of Enel Group, is dedicated to the development and operation of renewables across the world, with a presence in Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa and Oceania. Enel Green Power is a global leader in the green energy sector with a managed capacity of around 40 GW across a generation mix that includes wind, solar, geothermal, biomass and hydropower, and is at the forefront of integrating innovative technologies into renewable power plants.

ENERTRAG generates electricity and heat exclusively from renewable sources and is among Europe’s largest wind energy suppliers. With more than 667 wind turbines, ENERTRAG produces approximately 2.9 billion kilowatt hours of electricity annually – enough to meet the demands of one million people. ENERTRAG services wind turbines and delivers customer solutions across the entire value chain from concept to power delivery.

Leclanché is one of the world’s leading fully vertically integrated energy storage solution providers. It delivers a wide range of energy storage solutions for homes, small offices, large industries, electricity grids, as well as hybridisation for mass transport systems such as bus fleets and ferries. Leclanché today has a rich portfolio of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) that include bespoke battery systems from industry leading lithium-ion solutions. Leclanché is listed on the Swiss stock exchange, and is the only listed pure-play energy storage company in the world.

 

About Leclanché

Headquartered in Switzerland, Leclanché SA is a leading provider of high-quality energy storage solutions designed to accelerate our progress towards a clean energy future. Leclanché’s history and heritage is rooted in over 100 years of battery and energy storage innovation and the Company is a trusted provider of energy storage solutions globally. This coupled with the Company’s culture of German engineering and Swiss precision and quality, continues to make Leclanché the partner of choice for both disruptors, established companies and governments who are pioneering positive changes in how energy is produced, distributed and consumed around the world. The energy transition is being driven primarily by changes in the management of our electricity networks and the electrification of transport, and these two end markets form the backbone of our strategy and business model. Leclanché is at the heart of the convergence of the electrification of transport and the changes in the distribution network. Leclanché is the only listed pure play energy storage company in the world, organised along three business units: stationary storage solutions, e-Transport solutions and specialty batteries systems. Leclanché is listed on the Swiss Stock Exchange (SIX: LECN).

SIX Swiss Exchange: ticker symbol LECN | ISIN CH 011 030 311 9

 

Disclaimer

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements relating to Leclanché’s business, which can be identified by terminology such as “strategic”, “proposes”, “to introduce”, “will”, “planned”, “expected”, “commitment”, “expects”, “set”, “preparing”, “plans”, “estimates”, “aims”, “would”, “potential”, “awaiting”, “estimated”, “proposal”, or similar expressions, or by expressed or implied discussions regarding the ramp up of Leclanché’s production capacity, potential applications for existing products, or regarding potential future revenues from any such products, or potential future sales or earnings of Leclanché or any of its business units. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. Such forward-looking statements reflect the current views of Leclanché regarding future events, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. There can be no guarantee that Leclanché’s products will achieve any particular revenue levels. Nor can there be any guarantee that Leclanché, or any of the business units, will achieve any particular financial results.

 

Contacts Leclanché

 

Media Switzerland /Europe:

Thierry Meyer

T: +41 (0) 79 785 35 81

E-mail: tme@dynamicsgroup.ch

 

Media North America:

Rick Anderson

T: +1-718-986-1596

 

Henry Feintuch

T: +1-914-548-6924

E-mail: leclanche@feintuchpr.com

 

Media Germany:

Christoph Miller

T: +49 (0) 711 947 670

E-mail: leclanche@sympra.de