Saft deploys Intensium Mini for solar storage in Spain
Saft has installed two Li-ion energy storage systems to boost the operational efficiency of the existing solar PV plant at EXKAL's Marcilla manufacturing facility in Navarra, Northern Spain. The Saft Intensium Mini E systems provide peak shaving to reduce peak demand charges from the site's electricity supplier as well as increasing self-consumption of solar power. The result is that EXKAL is saving around eight percent on its site energy bills.
EXKAL is Spain's leading manufacturer of refrigeration systems and a key supplier to the refrigeration and retail sectors in Europe and worldwide with a wide range of sustainable and innovative remote and plug-in cabinets.
The Saft systems have been installed by EXKAL as part of the European STORY project that aims to demonstrate new energy storage technologies and their benefits in distribution systems, involving 18 partner institutions in eight different European countries. The target is to analyze and enhance the use of distributed power generation, so that the dependence on the distribution network can be reduced.
"This application is a great opportunity to show that energy storage in industrial behind the meter applications is a reality that has already arrived, and will change our future," says Clemente López Gilardi, the Green Renovables energy consultant responsible for the EXKAL Project.
EXKAL already had an existing solar PV facility of 11,270 kWp installed on the roof of the factory for instant self-consumption. The addition of the Saft Li-ion systems, together with an energy management system, has enabled it to be adapted into a storage facility. The aim is to demonstrate two main capabilities: reducing the peak power element of the utility bill by combining energy storage with PV integration; reducing the electricity supply factor of the bill by self-consumption of energy drawn from the batteries at the most expensive time of the day.
The two Saft Intensium Mini E systems provide the EXKAL site with flexible energy storage to meet local grid code requirements, with a capacity of 50 kW power and 200 kWh energy. The Intensium Mini is a fully integrated, modular, compact and robust outdoor energy storage system. It is based on Saft's well-proven Synerion Li-ion modules that ensure high operational reliability over thousands of cycles with excellent energy efficiency. This ESS provides a wide range of energy and power combinations suitable for renewable integration, industrial and commercial installations, utilities, and microgrid applications.
EXKAL's energy storage system came on line in April 2017. The two Saft Intensium Mini systems were manufactured in Saft's specialized Li-ion factory in Nersac, South West of France.