German car maker BMW will provide Vattenfall with 1,000 lithium-ion car batteries. Vattenfall will use the batteries, which are also used for the vehicle BMW i3, for storage projects at wind farms.
BMW has agreed to provide Sweden-based power company Vattenfall with 1,000 lithium-ion batteries. The batteries, produced at the BMW factory in Dingolfing, southern Germany and commonly used for the BMW i3 electric vehicle, will be used by Vattenfall for storage projects at its wind power stations.
“Energy storage and grid stability are the major topics of the new energy world”, said Vattenfall vice president Gunnar Groebler. “We want to use the sites where we generate electricity in order to drive the transformation to a new energy system and to facilitate the integration of renewable energies into the energy system with the storage facilities.”
Vattenfall said that the first storage project of this kind will be developed at the 122 MW onshore wind farm “Princess Alexia” in the Netherlands. The storage system will have a capacity of 3.2 MWh and will be Vattenfall’s largest storage project in the country.
Furthermore, the Swedish power company is planning to develop projects utilizing the BMW batteries at its wind farm Pen y Cymoedd (230 MW) in South Wales, UK.
Vattenfall said it will also use large battery storage at the planned wind farm in Hamburg-Bergedorf, northern Germany. The project is being developed in partnership with the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW) and the company Nordex.
