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TotalEnergies opened late last year the second phase of its
battery energy storage system (BESS) facility in Dunkirk in
northern France, bringing its capacity to 61 MW, the largest site
in the nation and part of a gradual increase in storage
nationally.
The project, known as Dunkirk II, adds to the 25 MW capacity of
Dunkirk I, both located at a TotalEnergies oil refinery that's been
repurposed for biofuels production and an LNG import terminal.
Dunkirk II consists of 27 lithium-ion BESS units supplied by Saft
Batteries.
TotalEnergies has two more BESS properties under development in
its homeland that will bring the company's storage capacity to 129
MW in France by the end of 2022, the energy major said on 22
December. Those sites are Carling in northeast France (25 MW) and
Grandpuits in north-central France (43 MW).
France lags behind Germany and the UK in battery storage
capacity among European nations, with more than 800 MW of capacity,
including the addition in 2021 of about 170 MW, according to IHS
Markit. (The UK has about 12,000 MW of installed battery storage,
and Germany more than 31,000 MW, according to IHS Markit's
Energy Storage Geographic Profiles published last
year.)
IHS Markit says that new installations of battery storage
systems in France in 2022 could top 200 MW.
Speaking to Net-Zero Business Daily by email, George
Hilton, IHS Markit energy storage senior analyst, said the industry
in France is benefiting from new regulations that opened "access to
multiple revenue streams" to pay for the installations. Most
important among those streams is the long-term capacity auction
known as AOLT, which provides generators and storage companies a
guaranteed price for energy for seven years.
AOLT bids were made through the Ministry for the Ecological and
Inclusive Transition in February 2020, which yielded winning bids
for 253 MW of new storage capacity through 2028.
But the tender system's performance has been mixed so far,
Hilton said. "A couple of years ago, the AOLT capacity tender led
to a lot of new projects in France, which are now being built [and]
commissioned, but we are yet to see this extended in a meaningful
way," Hilton said.
With more nuclear power in its electricity mix than most other
nations—about 71%, according to the International Energy
Agency—France faces lower pressure from an emissions standpoint
to transition to renewables and battery storage, Hilton pointed
out.
This can be seen in the results of the AOLT tenders in 2020, which led
to bids for new power and storage for 2021-2027 and 2022-2028 (and
no bids for new capacity for 2020-2026). France's power
transmission system operator RTE was seeking bids for up to 1,500
MW of power production and storage, and only 377 MW was allocated
in total (253 MW of storage, and 124 MW of new power
production).
TotalEnergies was the largest winner in the storage category in
the auctions, with 130 MW of commitments. AFD7 followed with 75 MW,
and RES won for 24 MW of capacity. Another half-dozen bidders won
smaller, single-project awards.
Given the need for new tenders to support the next round of
storage, growth will be "subdued" for a few years, Hilton said,
though installations could surge past 300 MW per year by 2026 or
2027 if future tenders are successful.
For those future auctions to be successful, battery storage
providers will seek to be compensated for additional benefits they
bring to the power grid, such as constraint management, and
secondary frequency response. Primary frequency response stabilizes
the grid in response to frequency deviations, usually within 10
seconds; secondary response usually occurs within 30 seconds.
Dunkirk I and II are providing primary frequency response,
according to TotalEnergies.
For TotalEnergies, battery storage supports its goal of being a
leading player in the low-carbon transition. The company has stated
that its goal is to reach 35 GW of wind, solar, and storage
capacity by 2030 and 100 GW by 2050, which could place it in the
top five renewable energy producers in the world. The company's
current renewable electricity generation capacity is more than 10
GW.
RINGO project
RTE is making progress on a major battery storage project of its
own, Project RINGO, which will ultimately deploy 100 MW of new
storage at three sites. Its initial investment is €80 million ($95
million), the grid operator said when detailing the program in
August.
Unlike TotalEnergies, RTE is pairing its storage directly with
renewable power installations: wind farms in Vingeanne in eastern
France; wind and solar sites in Bellac in the west; and solar sites
in Ventavon in the southeast. Construction began in April 2021 at
Vingeanne, and the first installation could be completed in the
first quarter of 2022.
RTE has chosen different battery suppliers for each site: Nidec
Asi at Vingeanne; Saft Batteries and Schneider Electric at Bellac;
and Blue Solutions at Ventavon.
RTE has described RINGO as "virtual power lines," which it will
manage in pilot tests for about three years. A virtual power line
can expand the capacity of the line to serve peak demand periods,
not just as a replacement of power for intermittent services such
as solar and wind.
"ln a typical city, renewable energy could supply a peak demand
of 130 MW. However, the existing power lines can only carry 100
MW," battery supplier Saft said. "By placing an energy storage
system at either end of a grid bottleneck, RTE can create a virtual
power line. This will store 30 MW upstream of the bottleneck at the
same time as releasing 30 MW close to the city. As a result,
customers in the city can draw the full 130 MW of renewable energy,
even during peak periods."
Posted 10 January 2022 by Kevin Adler, Chief Editor
