Partner for grid-scale battery systems
We build and operate grid-scale, large battery systems—renewable energy power plants. Grid-scale batteries deliver performance levels of 500 megawatts and more. In combination with renewable energy generation, they can fully replace entire gas, coal,and even nuclear power plants.
We know how to use grid-scale batteries and how to exploit different revenue sources optimally.
We control the process end-to-end, from origination and financing via commissioning and operation to maintenance and marketing of such systems.
We are the first point of contact for owners of suitable plots, regardless of whether you want to sell the property or intend to become a joint venture partner in the business.
We support investors with the development and commercialization of grid-scale battery assets.
What we do
The transformation of the energy system towards renewable energies increasingly requires replacing power plants with grid-scale battery assets.
Our many years of management experience put us in a position to cover the entire supply chain of grid-scale battery assets.
Analysis
We identify and evaluate all factors relevant to the economic operation of grid-scale battery assets based on objective, comprehensible information.
This includes analyzing market demand based on load profile simulation, assessing the site by grid load prediction, specifying technical requirements in accordance with market scenarios, and selecting the appropriate technology.
Planning
In the planning phase, we determine operational and financial targets based on business modeling.
We assess technology configuration options against business requirements.
We identify all requirements and prerequisites in the various permitting procedures for the construction and operation of grid-scale battery assets.
The result is a detailed schedule for erecting and commissioning the system.
Construction
We monitor the progress of construction projects, ensuring that schedules, resources, and expenses remain within established limits.
Our quality control system has been built on many years of experience in plant engineering. It ensures that the results meet the objectives.
Operation
After an asset has been commissioned, we take charge of operations, maintenance, and commercialization from a single source.
Our deep experience in electricity trading and wholesale promises optimal returns over the entire lifetime of the asset.
The exploitation of additional sales opportunities is a permanent part of our work.
Why grid-scale battery assets?
Grid-scale battery systems will play a key role in the energy system of the future.
Without the extensive use of such batteries, the transformation cannot be achieved at a reasonable cost.
The arising opportunities are substantial. The five most important reasons for using grid-scale batteries are:
1
Energy storage
Energy from renewable sources such as solar and wind power is always produced intermittently.
Battery systems can store unused power quickly and reliably. Hence, batteries help to shift excess power supply to times of excess demand and feed it into the grid when needed.
Periods of darkness and calm are smoothly bridged.
2
System stabilization
Grid-scale batteries can respond within milliseconds to permanent fluctuations in electricity supply or demand.
Thus, they can quickly and automatically compensate for voltage and frequency fluctuations in the power grid, ensuring stabilityacross the entire electricity system.
3
Peak shaving
Grid-scale batteries can provide electricity to individual large-scale power consumers at times of peak load demand.
Thus, the need to use expensive, climate-damaging peak-load power plants is reduced or completely avoided.
This can help with saving costs and minimizing greenhouse gas production and other emissions.
4
Electrification enabling
Grid-scale batteries’ flexibility to permanently shift between loading and unloading of power makes it easier to integrate power prosumers with widely varying properties, like photovoltaic roofs, heat pumps, and fleets of electric vehicles. The integration challenge is simplified, and the dependence on fossil fuels can be reduced faster.
5
Investment deferral
The use of grid-scale battery assets can defer and even completely avoid the costs of measures to expand and reinforce power grid segments.
During times of low demand, power is stored at a grid bottleneck and released downstream during times of high demand. Grid capacity is utilized better, and bottlenecks are resolved without new lines.
Profit potential of grid-scale battery assets.
Grid-scale battery assets can simultaneously benefit from the revenue potential of several wholesale and over-the-counter segments of the electricity market.
The prerequisite for this so-called “revenue stacking” is to locate the asset near an appropriate location in the power grid’s topology.
The five revenue sources with the biggest profit potential in the energy system of the future are:
1
Time arbitrage
Electricity wholesale markets are highly efficient with steep price functions.
Since power demand and supply levels typically shift during the day, base load prices and peakload prices present significant spreads.
By taking advantage of such price spreads, sophisticated load arbitrage strategies can produce attractive returns on the day-ahead and intraday markets.
And with increasing carbon tax levels, average returns on batteries will further increase, since conventional peaker plants will be pushed “out of the money.”
2
Power purchasing agreements
Energy traders and suppliers who have signed long-term power purchasing agreements with commercial and industrial consumers can use grid-scale batteries to procure lower-cost electricity.
The supplier can guarantee renewable electricity around the clock—a service of continuously growing demand.
Hence, grid-scale battery assets can be used to manage the risk of expensive replacement sourcing.
3
Frequency response reserves
The German power grid depends on a stable frequency of 50 Herz.
Transmission system operators are thus forced to buy frequency-stabilizing power reserves permanentlythat can be activated within seconds to respond to frequency shifts and balance the grid.
A grid-scale battery can supply both reserve capacity and amounts of physically delivered power for these balancing markets.
With sophisticated power purchasing, grid-scale batteries are already superior in these markets today to gas-fired power plants.
4
Electricity cost management
Companies with permanently high power demand can use grid-scale batteries to reduce their demand during peak periods by purchasing and storing power at low prices.
Such strategies avoid expensive peak-load electricity prices as well as surcharges on grid fees due to power grid capacity bottlenecks and frequent redispatch of actively producing power plant assets.
5
Renewable capacity firming
Renewable energy sources like the sun and wind are not available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
When the external effects of climate change are disregarded, the intermittent pattern of renewable energy generation creates a costly disadvantage compared to virtually fully dispatchable fossil and nuclear energy sources.
Grid-scale batteries can partially eliminate this disadvantage.
So-called “capacity firming” contracts with wind and solar park operators can already be exploited as a profitable source of income in Germany’s energy market today.
You are.....
... the owner of a vacant industrial plot.
Fallow areas that already have a connection to the public power grid are particularly attractive areas for grid-scale battery assets.
Therefore, decommissioned power plants, brownfield industrial areas from energy-intensive industries, and vacant plots on power plant premises are particularly suitable for grid-scale battery assets.
Do you have such industrial plots?
In this case, please contact us! We can quickly give you an indicative assessment of the value potential of your property.
We conduct a comprehensive site assessment to identify potential risks and constraints.
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The area must be sufficiently large to be able to set up the required number of battery units. However, the space requirement is comparatively small.
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As a rule of thumb, building and environmental permits for industrial properties also allow for the operation of grid-scale battery assets.
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Municipalities and state authorities are usually very open to grid-scale battery projects. They create jobs, supply lower-cost power locally, and generate business tax revenue.
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Energy-intensive companies often have a connection to the power grid. This is a significant time and cost advantage for the development of grid-scale battery assets.
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Access to the property for container trucks is required to install the battery units. This is generally the case for industrial sites.
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Industrial properties typically fulfill the topographical prerequisites of the necessary ground foundations and building designs for grid-scale batteries. Operations buildings are typically not needed.
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An environmental risk analysis is regularly not required due to previous industrial use, as battery systems pose only low risks. Battery cell materials are non-poisonous. Neither noise nor pollutants are emitted.
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Grid-scale battery assets represent components of the critical infrastructure. They must therefore be protected against theft, vandalism, and other security risks. Respective prerequisites are typically present in industrial site areas.
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On vacant industrial properties, unfavorable effects on residential areas or public spaces are not to be expected. Delivery traffic is marginal compared to typical business and industry sites.
You are.....
... investor with a focus on energy.
The energy industry offers various attractive opportunities for investors. The reasons for this are numerous and manifold.
The demand for electricity will continue to increase due to the trend toward electrification.
The expansion of energy sources such as solar, wind, biomass, and geothermal energy opens up enormous growth potential following the trend toward renewables.
The energy sector’s technological progress is highly dynamic. The development of battery technologies and intelligent power grids in particular is progressing rapidly.
In addition to ecological advantages, the technologies also offer economic value-added as they increase efficiency and reduce costs.
By working with a competent partner, investors can benefit from the opportunities that the energy sector offers.
Energy suppliers as “strategic investors”
From a strategic standpoint, large energy suppliers can invest in the construction of grid-scale battery assets. In doing so, they are expanding their position in the electricity market, opening up new sources of revenue, and creating portfolio synergies with existing generation assets.
Investment funds
Investment funds—venture capital, private equity, credit funds, and even hedge funds—benefit from collaborating with a reliable partner for grid-scale battery asset investments. We expect an investment trend similar to the development that already took place in the early days of wind energy.
Industrial companies
Industrial companies can invest in grid-scale battery assets to reduce their energy costs. At the same time, they can save taxes and take advantage of public funding. This is particularly interesting for companies that consume large amounts of energy during peak-load hours to maintain production.
Institutional investors
The long-term, stable income streams of grid-scale battery assets deployed in infrastructure-like applications can be utilized by pension funds, insurance companies, and other institutional investors.
The larger the fleet of grid-scale batteries in the German power grid, the more it takes on the character of infrastructure with predictable and partly government-backed returns.
Federal Goverment Grant
for our READ R&D
READ (Reliable Energy Asset Database) is presumably the world’s most complete digital database for reliable energy assets. It contains over 3.000 records of existing as well as planned energy storage systems, hydrogen assets, and other plants which warrant renewable energy assets’ reliability. We maintain READ to track project success, asset value, production efficiency, O&M costs, and other key performance metrics. It also serves as source of insights into innovative business models, regulatory trends, technologies, off-the-shelf products, and their vendors. We benefit from a truly global, up-to-date view on Best-demonstrated Practices. Investors gain insights in attractive opportunities. Asset Operators get clarity about potential threats from technology- and vendor-related risks. Landowners receive an indications of their property’s potential value.