Company News

Olmatic Selects Leclanché to Provide an 11.9 MWh LeBlock Battery Storage System for Sembach Solar Park in Germany

Wed Apr 20
  • First LeBlock system in Germany
  • Olmatic to benefit from simple installation thanks to LeBlock’s modularity and pre-fitted connections
  • The battery energy storage system will be used for primary control reserve – a profitable service for municipal energy producers
  • Leclanché will also present LeBlock at EES Europe in Munich from 11 to 13 May 2022

 

YVERDON-LES-BAINS, Switzerland, 20 April 2022Leclanché SA (SIX : LECN), a leading global provider of energy storage solutions, has been selected by Olmatic GmbH, Freudenstadt, Germany, to supply an 11.9 MWh LeBlock™ battery storage system – the company’s first in Germany since introducing the technology in 2021.

Olmatic specializes in efficient energy optimization solutions for plant operators. It will install the turnkey lithium-ion battery storage system at the Sembach solar park in the municipality of Enkenbach-Alsenborn, near Kaiserslautern. FlexPowerHub, a software as a Service (SaaS) brand from Cognify, Salzburg, Germany, offers power producers the ability to participate in the energy regulation market on an automated basis.

LeBlock simplifies logistics, installation and safe operation

The LeBlock energy storage system consists of five-foot-wide fully pre-installed and configured BatteryBlock and CombiBlock modular units that are easily combined through plug-and-play connections. In addition to lithium-ion batteries, the system architecture includes cooling, temperature management and fire protection systems.

Four blocks combined form a 20-foot ISO standard container. This allows for easy transport by truck or rail directly to the installation site. No additional transport containers are required and there is no packaging waste. In addition, thanks to its modular design, no site-specific wiring is required for on-site installation. The combination of plug-and-play connections, simplified logistics, minimal planning effort and fast installation results in time and cost savings of up to 40 percent compared to standard battery energy storage systems, as well as a lower total cost of ownership.

Battery storage at the Sembach solar park

The battery storage system at the Sembach solar park will serve as intermediate storage for frequency regulation and stabilization of the energy grid. With a capacity of 11.9 MWh, it includes a total of 16 BatteryBlocks and four CombiBlocks, as well as an 8.78 MVA power conversion system connected to the 20kV/50Hz grid as a turnkey solution. The BatteryBlocks are equipped with pre-installed water-cooled battery racks up to 745 kWh. The CombiBlocks contain the central cooling chiller unit for temperature management.

The LeBlock system’s fire-resistant design offers the highest level of safety. Various safety systems are pre-integrated at the factory including an emergency stop function, a fire detection and suppression system as well as an insulation monitoring and deflagration panel. The system meets all current international standards for transportation and battery integration including UN38.3, UL9540A, IEC62933, NFPA 855, NFPA 68 and more.

Higher profitability through participation in the balancing energy market

The Sembach solar park was inaugurated in 2006 and is one of the largest ground-mounted photovoltaic plants in Rhineland-Palatinate. With an output of 5.6 MW, it makes a significant contribution to renewable power generation. For the municipal operator of the photovoltaic plant, the battery storage system will offer the possibility to participate in the energy balancing market via FlexPowerHub in a simple, automated and smart way through AI-supported forecasts and to feed in primary balancing energy when needed in order to increase grid stability.

The amortisation period is also significantly reduced by the smart SaaS; energy management know-how is not mandatory. If the grid frequency drops due to high demand or lower production from renewable sources, the battery storage system delivers power from the stored energy. Peak load management is operated by Gemeindewerken Enkenbach-Alsenborn with the upstream network of Pfalzwerke. Across the board, Olmatic creates maximum energy transparency with the usage of artificial intelligence-based software. With this support they can provide targeted forecast of the expected energy production from renewable energy sources as well as the energy consumption of the network supplied.

Patrick Olma, Managing Director of Olmatic explained: “Projects like the solar park in Sembach show how important the combination of renewable generation and storage, coupled with an intelligent energy management system, is becoming for the economical use of energy in the future. It is a central building block on the way to a CO2-free energy supply. For us, as a full-service provider, it is important to provide a sustainable overall solution that will meet these requirements in the years to come. With Leclanché, we are therefore placing our trust in an expert in the field of energy storage solutions. We look forward to our ongoing partnership.”

“Energy storage systems are taking on an important role in the energy market with regard to the further expansion of renewable energy sources, security of supply and grid stability,” said Anil Srivastava, CEO of Leclanché. “Leclanché is providing support in this regard in several current projects throughout Europe, including a 22 MW battery energy storage system in the Brandenburg town of Cremzow in cooperation with Enel Green Power and Enertrag, and a 10 MW system in Heerhugowaard in the north of the Netherlands in cooperation with S4 Energy and the Dutch transmission system operator TenneT. With the LeBlock storage system, we have a scalable, sustainable and easily integrated solution that is ideally suited for many applications of municipal and smaller energy providers.”

Martin Simmerstatter, COO & Partner of FlexPowerHub said: “As a software-as-a-service provider, we want to make it easier for renewable generation plants such as the Sembach solar park to enter the very complex energy balancing market. By automating the entire process, energy industry know-how is no longer necessary – this lowers the barrier to market entry enormously. In combination with an innovative storage system from Leclanché, revenues can be generated on the negative as well as on the positive energy balancing market. In addition, we optimize revenues through DeepLearning forecasts and thus reduce the amortization period of a battery storage system. Only in this way can the energy turnaround towards non-controllable, renewable energy sources also be supported by smaller production plants in a grid-serving manner. We hope to implement many more projects with Leclanché and Olmatic and thus make an important contribution to a green future.”

LeBlock at the ees Europe in Munich

At the ees Europe in Munich, Leclanché will present the innovative and modular LeBlock system from May 11-13, 2022 at booth B1.340. Last year, the jury of the ees AWARD committee was impressed by the holistic approach of the system, with its ease of transportation and quick installation, to the cost-effective operation and easy recycling at the end of its life cycle. It nominated Leclanché’s LeBlock to the group of finalists.

A video of the LeBlock system and additional technical specifications can be found online at www.leclanche.com/leblock.

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About Olmatic

Olmatic offers full-service solutions for efficient energy optimization in industry, for charging management applications and especially for plant operators. Summarized under the name Olmatic Power Tracking, the company from the northern Black Forest delivers a patented and award-winning process for dynamic energy distribution and achieves significant energy savings through the intelligent use of regenerative energy sources.

About Leclanché

Headquartered in Switzerland, Leclanché SA is a leading global 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. 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 organised in three business units: energy storage solutions, e-Mobility solutions and specialty battery systems. Leclanché is listed on the Swiss Stock Exchange (SIX: LECN).

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

LeBlock is a trademark of Leclanché SA. All other trade names are the property of their respective owners.

 

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.

 

Media Contacts

 

Olmatic GmbH:

 

Christian Olma

Marketing & Communication

T : +49 (0) 74 41 52 09 4 – 11

E-mail : christian.olma@olmatic.de

 

Leclanché:

 

Switzerland / Europe:

Thierry Meyer

T: +41 (0) 79 785 35 81

E-mail: tme@dynamicsgroup.ch

 

North America:

Henry Feintuch / Ashley Blas

T: +1-646-753-5710 / +1-646-753-5713

E-mail: leclanche@feintuchpr.com

 

Germany:

Christoph Miller

T: +49 (0) 711 947 670

E-mail: leclanche@sympra.de

 

Investor Contacts:

Anil Srivastava / Hubert Angleys

T: +41 (0) 24 424 65 00

E-mail: invest.leclanche@leclanche.com