Northvolt and Vattenfall launch mobile battery system to replace diesel generators

Volkswagen-backed Swedish battery developer Northvolt and Swedish power company Vattenfall have launched their Voltpack Mobile System, a versatile, mobile, and modular lithium-ion battery system designed to provide a zero-emission alternative to diesel generators.

According to Northvolt, Voltpack Mobile System will serve as a modular power supply solution which can be configured to meet energy and power requirements for a wide variety of market scenarios, stepping into the gap usually filled by portable and standalone diesel generators.

The company imagines the Voltpack being used to power remote electricity grids, reinforce weak grids, support electric vehicle charging, and deliver grid services such as balancing power, flexibility, or other ancillary services.

Further, designed with redemployment in mind, the Voltpack Mobile System can be deployed for operations lasting days, weeks, or even longer periods of time.

Able to deliver up to 250kW with a scalable installed capacity from 245kWh to 1,225kWh of available energy, the Voltpack Mobile System scales through a central interface hub which can connect in parallel up to five self-contained Voltpacks, each of which contain three liquid-cooled industrial-grade battery Voltpack Cores. The system’s interface hub also serves as an interface for applications as well as houses inverter and auxiliary systems.

“We see an increased need from the market for flexible solutions, both in terms of use case but also location,” said Emad Zand, President Battery Systems, Northvolt.

“Voltpack Mobile System is designed to give our customers a fleet of assets that can be redeployed, repurposed and connected seamlessly. Vattenfall has been an invaluable partner of Northvolt since our earliest days, and their contributions to this project have enabled us to accelerate development of a product built to customer requirements.”

Development of the Voltpack Mobile System and production of core technologies has been led by Northvolt, including battery, complementary inverter systems, and battery management system. Vattenfall has supported the design of the System and will provide test and validation capabilities to bring it to market.

“The need for flexible energy solutions such as energy storage is vital for the transition to the new energy system,” added Torbjörn Johansson, head of Vattenfall Network Solutions Sweden. “Energy storage provides fast access to power when customers need to peak-shave or the capacity of the grid connection is insufficient.

The battery storage solution will be offered as part of our concept “Power-as-a-service”, which means that we deliver a complete package with ownership of the energy storage and manage it to the specification of the customer. Vattenfall add a long experience of owning and operating different kind of network solutions including energy storage.”