Abu Dhabi – Mubasher: Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) and the Norwegian multinational energy company (Equinor) have installed a new battery system designed to store electricity generated by Hywind Scotland.
The two companies will soon test the new system, which is known as Batwind and has a storage capacity of 1.2 megawatts, according to Emirates News Agency (WAM).
The project is aimed at the maximisation of the commercial value of Hywind Scotland’s electricity output.
Following the successful installation of Batwind, Masdar and Equinor will now explore how the new storage solution can be utilised to improve the operational and cost efficiency of other wind farms – to open up new commercial opportunities in an expanding the global wind power market.
"Energy storage is vital to unlocking the full potential of renewables by mitigating the variable nature of wind and solar power,” Masdar’s executive director for clean energy Bader Al Lamki commented.
"The variability of renewable energy can to a certain extent be managed by the grid, but to integrate even more renewables, we will need to find new smart solutions for energy storage to reduce system integration costs," Hywind’s development manager Sebastian Bringsvaerd said.
Hywind Scotland supplies around 6,600 homes and displaces 63,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year. The value of the joint venture project wasn't revealed.
