pwr_april-2024 - 12

GLOBAL MONITOR
ing forward the energy transition and
helping to scale renewable technology
to reduce carbon emissions. Renewable
energy is now being generated at an
unprecedented rate and building power
storage solutions is vital for helping balance
supply and demand to the grid, for
the creation of a stable modern electricity
network. This investment is a significant
step towards a more sustainable
and reliable energy future in Finland. "
Eero Auranne, CEO of eNordic, said,
" The Nordic energy market is already
ahead of the curve regarding the energy
transition, largely due to the volume of
emerging technological developments.
[The] Mertaniemi battery energy storage
project exemplifies eNordic's position at
the forefront of this movement, helping
realize the region's ambition to become a
leading player in sustainable energy. "
Carroll said Powin will continue to
provide BESSs across Europe. " Energy
storage is critical to Europe's clean energy
goals, " he told POWER. " Europe
is expected to deploy over 90 GWh of
utility-scale battery energy storage projects
by 2030. It is widely understood
that energy storage is a critical component
to decarbonization strategies, as it
is truly the only way to take advantage of
solar and wind power and help the grid
become more renewable. "
Carroll noted that Powin also recently
announced a project with Pulse Clean
Energy, an investor, developer, and operator
of flexibility and stability assets in
the UK, " to deploy a 50-MW/110-MWh
BESS on project Overhill, located in
Scotland. " Carroll said the project " supports
the UK's goal of achieving a net-zero
power sector by 2035. We are excited
to expand our work in that region as
well, helping the UK to meet their storage
and renewable energy targets while
enhancing the stability and security of
their electricity system. "
-Darrell Proctor is a senior associate
editor for POWER.
POWER Digest
GA Drilling, ZeroGeo Energy
Collaborate
on Deep Geothermal Power
Project. Geothermal drilling technology
company GA Drilling and ZeroGeo
Energy GmbH in February announced
the companies have a memorandum
of understanding to collaborate in developing
a 12-MW Hot Dry Rock Geothermal
Power Plant, known as Projekt
THERMO, in Lower Saxony, Germany.
The groups said it would be the first of
several deep geothermal and geother12
mal
energy storage projects in Europe
jointly developed by the two companies.
" We are delighted to be working
with GA Drilling to develop and deliver
Projekt THERMO, an endeavor primed
to be successful and profitable, " said
John Ashbridge, CEO of ZeroGeo. GA
Drilling will provide the drilling technology
for Projekt THERMO. ZeroGeo will
operate the project. The groups said the
installation will focus on the ability to
access geothermal energy anywhere in
the world via deep drilling technology,
regardless of location. " ZeroGeo is a
group with a focus and momentum that
has attracted a strong network and partners
to really get geothermal projects
off the ground, " said Dusan Kocis, COO
and co-founder of GA Drilling. " The
need for clean baseload power is real,
and geothermal has the highest potential
to deliver that safely and securely.
We're excited to be collaborating with
ZeroGeo to help address the power
needs in Europe. "
Campus in Germany Features Unique
Microgrid Design. Global renewable energy
company BayWa r.e. and Ampt, a
manufacturer of direct-current (DC) optimizers
for large-scale photovoltaic (PV)
systems, in February announced the
companies had successfully deployed a
combination of wind and solar generation
together with battery storage within
the microgrid at the Fraunhofer Institute
for Chemical Technology (ICT)
campus in Pfinztal, Germany. BayWa
r.e. installed three new rooftop arrays
and one new ground-mounted system
to expand renewable energy utilization
onsite. These PV systems, with a total
capacity of 690 kWp, are now connected
to the power grid without their own
inverters, but via an existing 2-MW wind
turbine. A 10-MWh flow battery energy
storage system completes the installation.
The companies said the combination
of wind, solar, and battery storage
is unique in Europe. The different technologies,
leveraging Ampt string optimizers,
are integrated through a shared
DC bus, known as a " DC-coupled " architecture.
The process enables generation
variability across the PV systems
to be managed, and the different systems
united, at a high and fixed voltage
to increase system efficiency. The
main campus of the Fraunhofer ICT
has more than 100 laboratories, as
well as several pilot plants and three
test centers. Officials said the project
supports the institute's
climate-neutral operation.
increasingly
www.powermag.com
Groups Building Natural Gas-Fired
CHP Plant in Kazakhstan. AKSA Energy
and Doosan Skoda Power in late
January announced a partnership for
construction of a combined heat and
power (CHP) plant in Kyzylorda, Kazakhstan.
The companies expect the
facility will be online in the next year.
The groups said the plant is designed
to advance sustainable energy solutions
and support increasing demand
for electricity and heat in Kyzylorda.
The facility will feature a 95-MW DSTS10
model steam turbine from Doosan
Skoda. The plant when complete will
have total installed generation capacity
of 240 MW. The project is called " a critical
step in Kazakhstan's transition from
coal-fired baseload power plants to natural
gas, " according to the companies.
The groups said the CHP facility aligns
" with [Kazakhstan's] sustainability and
environmental conservation goals such
as reaching net-zero carbon emissions
by 2060. " Algan Saracoglu, project manager
of AKSA Energy, said, " AKSA Energy
is proud to announce its partnership
with Doosan Skoda Power to accelerate
the completion of the Kyzylorda natural
gas combined heat and power plant by
2025. As Kazakhstan's first foreign direct
investor in the energy sector, we
prioritize our contribution to the country's
energy supply security as well as
energy efficiency with the state-of-theart
technology we will use at our 240MW
Kyzylorda natural gas combined
heat and power plant. We will maximize
efficiency by providing resource optimization
through generating both heat
and energy at our power plant. " Kazakhstan's
energy system has historically
been dependent on coal-fired power
plants, but the country is moving to find
more sustainable energy options. Delivery
of the steam turbine is planned for
late summer this year.
Schneider Electric in Virtual PPA
with Biopharma Group. Schneider
Electric in late February announced
a virtual power purchase agreement
(VPPA) between global biopharma
company GSK and IGNIS, a Spanish
integrated
renewable
energy
group.
The agreement supports the supply of
200 GWh of renewable electricity certificates
annually from new solar energy
sites at GSK locations across mainland
Europe. GSK said the VPPA will fulfill
about half of the company's total electricity
demand in mainland Europe for
12 years, beginning in mid-2026. GSK's
footprint in mainland Europe includes 11
POWER | April 2024
http://www.powermag.com
pwr_april-2024

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