M5BAT: Battery storage for a successful energy transition

We are playing an active role in shaping the major trends affecting the energy industry—such as decarbonization, decentralization and digitalization—and making commercial use of them wherever possible. An important focus in this regard is the development of new scalable business models that help to advance our existing business.

KlimaExpo.NRW has filmed our M5BAT project as an example of best practice. This large-scale modular battery storage system is unlike any other in the world and is currently being tested under real-life conditions to see whether it would be suitable for implementing Germany's energy transition. Under the umbrella brand KlimaExpo.NRW, EnergieAgentur.NRW aims to diversify climate protection and encourage engagement and innovation. Energy efficiency, energy saving, and renewable energies are its top priorities. Filming of our 5-megawatt stationary battery storage system began in January 2019 in a specially converted building in Aachen. KlimaExpo.NRW traveled to the site and went in for a close-up. The end result is a project video and a topic video in which KlimaExpo.NRW uses three best practice examples to illustrate how battery storage systems can facilitate the energy transition. M5BAT is the fruit of a joint venture between Exide Technologies GmbH, SMA Solar Technology GmbH and various institutes belonging to RWTH Aachen University. The energy storage system has been successfully marketed in the primary control power sector for over a year now. KlimaExpo.NRW identified our M5BAT battery storage project as a pioneering initiative back in June 2016, praising it as a step toward climate protection and sustainability.

The rising use of renewable energies is accompanied by frequency fluctuations and grid instability due to unpredictable generation sources — energy supply and consumption are unbalanced and difficult to plan. Temporary storage solutions capable of leveling out these peaks and troughs are essential if these sustainable energy suppliers are to be integrated into the system permanently. The M5BAT battery storage system has been connected to the local medium-voltage grid since September 2016 and its technical and economic suitability for the challenges of the energy transition is currently being tested. The economic efficiency of the technology is being measured by the trading of capacities on the real energy market. "The power grid of the future will not be able to cope without additional flexibility. Our project is providing important technical and economic information for the successful operation of battery storage systems" says Dr. Christian Folke, Innovation Manager at Uniper.

Combining several different battery technologies into one large storage system is providing relevant information on the suitability of the individual types in different application scenarios, as well as insights for future strategies for using energy storage systems. As a major international energy company, this is giving Uniper the opportunity to increase its proficiency in using stationary battery storage systems and open up new future prospects in the field of energy trading. The great importance of this project for the entire energy industry is emphasized by the fact that it has been partially funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi).