Grid-side and shared energy storage solutions

Grid-side and shared energy storage solutions:

Stabilizers and value hubs for empowering new power systems

Introduction

With the continuous integration of a high proportion of renewable energy into the grid, its inherent intermittency and volatility pose unprecedented challenges to the real-time balance and safe, stable operation of the power system. Grid-side energy storage, especially shared energy storage models, is becoming a key infrastructure for building a new type of power system due to its rapid response capabilities, flexible adjustment characteristics, and scalable benefits. It is not only a “stabilizer” for smoothing renewable energy output and improving absorption capacity, but also a “value hub” for participating in the electricity market, realizing multiple value realizations, and optimizing the allocation of resources across society.

Typical application scenario: Serving the core needs of the power grid

1. Primary frequency regulation and fast frequency regulation services: Utilizing the millisecond to second-level fast power response capability of energy storage, it automatically smooths out frequency deviations in the power grid caused by sudden load changes or new energy fluctuations, ensuring grid frequency stability. This is an advantage that traditional units cannot match.
2. Peak shaving and renewable energy consumption: Storing excess electricity during peak renewable energy generation periods (such as midday photovoltaic peak) and releasing it during peak electricity demand periods such as evening peak, achieving cross-period energy transfer, effectively reducing wind and solar curtailment, and alleviating transmission and distribution congestion.
3. Shared energy storage power stations: Construct independent large-scale energy storage power stations to provide standardized energy storage services to multiple new energy power plants (such as photovoltaic power plants and wind farms) or power users in the form of “capacity leasing” or “power service”, thereby improving the utilization efficiency of energy storage assets and reducing the initial investment threshold for new energy distribution and storage.
4. System backup and black start: As an emergency backup power source for the power grid, it provides short-term power support or helps restore power to a local power grid in extreme situations (black start), thereby enhancing the resilience of the power grid.

Customer Case Studies: The Value Practice of Scalable Applications

Case 1: A shared energy storage power station in Qinghai Province (50MW/100MWh)

• Customer pain points : Qinghai Province has abundant solar and wind energy resources, but the grid’s absorption capacity faces challenges during certain periods, leading to curtailment pressure on some new energy power generation companies. Furthermore, requiring each new energy project to configure its own energy storage would result in high initial investment and operation and maintenance costs, and the utilization efficiency of dispersed energy storage resources is low.
• Solution : Eneroc, as the core equipment supplier and system solution provider, participated in the construction of a standalone 50MW/100MWh shared energy storage power station. This power station utilizes a large-scale containerized energy storage system, with centralized construction and operation.
• Operation Mode : This power station, operating as an independent energy storage asset, primarily provides flexible energy storage capacity leasing services to nearby renewable energy (solar/wind) power generation companies. These companies can lease a certain capacity of energy storage space according to their own needs to store surplus electricity and utilize it when required, thereby optimizing their power generation curve and improving grid responsiveness and profitability.
• Implementation Results : Through the sharing model, this project has significantly reduced the barriers and costs for new energy companies in the region to use energy storage, effectively promoted the local consumption of clean energy, and reduced power curtailment losses.   
•                                              Figure 1. A shared energy storage power station in Qinghai Province

Case 2: Fengxian County, Jiangsu Province Grid-Side Energy Storage Project (50MW/115MWh)

• Customer Pain Points : The power grid in Fengxian County, Jiangsu Province, faces increasing power supply pressure. On the one hand, there is a significant peak-valley load difference; on the other hand, with the increasing proportion of renewable energy integration, the grid frequency stability is facing challenges. The local power system urgently needs a flexible resource that can achieve efficient peak shaving and valley filling while providing rapid frequency regulation capabilities to comprehensively improve the reliability of grid operation and power quality.
• Solution : A containerized energy storage system solution with a total capacity of 50MW/115MWh was provided.
• Operation Mode : This project serves as a flexible adjustment resource on the grid side, subject to unified grid dispatch. It discharges during peak daytime load periods to participate in peak shaving; and charges during off-peak nighttime load periods to achieve valley filling, effectively smoothing the regional net load curve. Simultaneously, the system is online 24/7, responding in real-time to the grid’s automatic generation control commands, rapidly and accurately absorbing or releasing power to provide auxiliary services such as primary and secondary frequency regulation, directly enhancing the grid’s frequency stability.
• Implementation Results : After the project was put into operation, it significantly improved the regulation capacity and operational reliability of the power grid in Fengxian County. Through peak shaving and valley filling, it alleviated peak power supply pressure and improved the utilization efficiency of transmission and distribution facilities; through rapid frequency regulation, it effectively suppressed frequency fluctuations in the power grid and enhanced the grid’s ability to cope with sudden power surges and new energy fluctuations.

 Figure 2. Fengxian County, Jiangsu Province Grid-side Energy Storage Project

Conclusion

Grid-side and shared energy storage are indispensable supporting technologies in the energy transition process. Through market mechanisms and intelligent dispatch, it aggregates dispersed energy storage resources into a collective force serving the grid and promoting the consumption of new energy sources. With the deepening of electricity market reforms and the clarification of energy storage business models, its application prospects will be even broader. We will continue to dedicate ourselves to providing technologically advanced, cost-effective, and large-scale energy storage systems to help build a safer, more flexible, and cleaner modern smart grid.