Eneco creates virtual renewable power plant using S4 Energy’s storage technology
Dutch energy company Eneco will use innovative storage technology to create a virtual renewable power plant. In partnership with S4 Energy, three projects will be developed with a combined total capacity of 25 MW. Under the agreement signed by Eneco and S4 Energy, the storage systems can be used for balancing transport and distribution grids - without the need to generate extra power from fossil fuels.
The partnership with S4 Energy is in line with Eneco’s strategy to be a leading investor in renewable energy. Over the next few years, Eneco aims to double its sustainable installed capacity, and this will have a substantial impact on the power transport and distribution grids. Grid balancing in particular becomes more challenging when more energy is derived from sustainable sources.
Currently, nearly all the power needed for grid balancing is provided by gas or coal-fueled power plants. Eneco is continually looking for potential sustainable alternatives, and temporary storage of surplus power is one of the most interesting options. S4 Energy develops and produces storage systems which are particularly suitable for grid balancing, because of their high power capacity and (dis)charging speed. Currently the company is working on three projects with a combined total power capacity of 25 MW, with the support of Energiefonds Overijssel and Participatiefonds Duurzame Economie Noord-Holland.
“This gives us a powerful instrument to further develop our growing portfolio of steerable sustainable energy solutions”, says Lucien Wiegers, commercial director Trading at Eneco Energy Trade. “Such solutions are capable of supplying power on demand, a functionality which so far has typically been provided by fossil-fuel power plants. That represents a substantial boost towards achieving our sustainability goals.”
S4 Energy welcomes the collaboration with Eneco. “Eneco has the expertise in power and balancing markets to extract more social and economic value from our systems”, says project director Dominique Becker Hoff. “For example, by trading on short-term electricity markets and by providing grid operator TenneT TSO with primary and secondary reserve power. In short, there are many ways in which this partnership can flourish.”
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Note to editors
Contact S4 Energy Nederland B.V.:
Dominique Becker Hoff
+31 (0)6-30004188
Contact Eneco:
Edwin van de Haar, see details in box on the right
About S4 Energy
S4 Energy helps energy companies, grid operators and industrial consumers to match supply and demand and optimise energy flows. The company creates tailor-made solutions using various types of storage technology, proprietary (and patented) systems and intelligent software. Through its subsidiaries, S4 Energy also provides frequency containment reserve (FCR) services for Dutch grid operator TenneT TSO, and operates a dedicated production facility for its proprietary KINEXT units in Almelo, the Netherlands.
About Eneco GroupEneco Group is a group of companies active internationally in the field of renewable energy and innovation. Together with our customers, partners and more than 3,000 employees, we work on our mission: sustainable energy for all. We invest in wind farms, biomass plants, heat and solar parks to increase the supply of renewable energy. And we develop innovative products and services so that our customers can control how to generate, store, use or share energy.