Use cases for battery storage in medium-sized companies

How do battery storage systems in industry contribute to cost savings and security of supply?

Battery storage systems have long been a topic of discussion in the debate on how to shape the energy transition. In view of the falling prices for lithium-ion batteries and other technologies, the development has gained further momentum. What has been working on a small scale for households with solar systems and on a large scale as a power plant and contribution to grid stability for some time is now also increasingly being used in trade and industry.

But what tasks can batteries take on in industrial energy supply? What potential savings and other benefits are associated with this? And what needs to be considered when designing storage solutions?

In the following article, we would like to give you an overview of the most important applications for electricity storage systems in companies.

Self-generation systems are generally designed for operating loads. However, if there is only a base load at weekends or on public holidays, the system's own requirements are often more than covered. In addition, surplus electricity is fed back into the grid.

However, very few companies can adapt their electricity consumption to their own generation and "wait until the sun shines". Batteries can decouple generation and consumption over time through intermediate storage and thus reduce electricity costs without disrupting operational processes.

In addition to in-house generation, electricity generated by operating systems with energy recovery (e.g. crane systems, braking systems) can also be temporarily stored and otherwise fed back into the grid - usually without remuneration.

Reduce (ancillary) electricity costs

When purchasing electricity, the pure working price for the kilowatt hour accounts for an ever smaller proportion. The various fees, charges and levies can account for up to 50% of the costs. In the case of large consumers, the power price per kilowatt and any costs for increased reactive power consumption are usually added to this. Battery storage systems offer various levers to reduce the costs mentioned:

Peak load reduction usually offers the greatest savings potential. Here too, battery storage systems can reduce costs through time decoupling by partially covering the power supply from the storage system once a certain operational power requirement has been reached. This saves costs - and also reduces the load on the local power grid.

Smoothing load peaks is an important lever for reducing electricity costs.

If the electricity is not consumed, it can also be offered on various markets at certain times. High-capacity electricity storage systems can participate in the balancing energy market (the required capacity can also be achieved by virtually combining several storage systems - known as pooling). However, selling (and purchasing) on the electricity exchanges with their fluctuating prices will also be much easier and more lucrative with batteries, as the times of generation/purchase and feed-in/consumption can be decoupled.

Securing the power supply

We all depend on a secure and continuous power supply. While in most companies an interruption to the supply can have serious consequences simply due to the cost of downtime, in certain facilities such as hospitals it can even be a matter of life and death. Despite the high security of supply of our electricity grids, it is therefore often necessary to set up an emergency power supply. These are also widely used for emergency lighting in escape routes and for IT and communication systems to prevent data loss.

As such emergency power systems are very rarely used in this country, the battery storage systems used can also be used for other applications and thus made more economical - as long as the task of providing an uninterruptible power supply is not impaired.

In addition to security of supply, battery storage systems can also increase the quality of the power supply, for example by balancing the reactive power budget, acting as a mains filter (and thus eliminating flicker or harmonics) or increasing the short-circuit voltage. All these factors increase the service life and ensure the proper operation of sensitive operating systems.

Avoid grid expansion

Companies connected to the medium-voltage grid are responsible for installing and operating their own transformers,which is associated with high investment costs. If the operational electricity demand increases over time, this can lead to overloading of the transformersand make replacement necessary if the load drawn is not adjusted accordingly. Battery storage can also be used here for load shifting; in addition to lowering the power price, the acquisition costs for the new transformerscan also be saved and the existing ones can be operated more efficiently by adjusting the operating point.

Conclusion: Wide range of applications

Battery storage systems offer industrial and commercial companies a wide range ofpotential savings and can significantly increase the security and quality of the power supply. With the right design and operational management, their (still quite high) investment costs are quickly amortized; operation is low-maintenance and only involves low running costs. At the same time, operating processes are not impaired and the service life of systems is increased.

The purchase of storage systems is most lucrative when several of the applications presented can be combined. Even batteries already in operation, which already fulfill one of the functions, can take on additional tasks in the operational power supply through adapted operational management.

However, this multifunctional use of storage systems places high demands on planning. In particular, detailed information about the temporal distribution of electricity consumption in the company is necessary for a precisely tailored design and control.

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