China has commissioned its largest battery energy storage system (BESS) to date as part of a multi-technology power plant site incorporating wind energy, solar photovoltaics (PV) and concentrating solar power (CSP).
The Luneng Haixi Multi-mixed Energy Demonstration Project is the first of its kind in China and combines the three renewable energy types with a 100 MWh BESS to improve the reliability and stability of the site’s output.
“The station is the first of its kind – a multi-functional, centralized power plant integrated with an electrochemical energy storage system,” said Huang Shilin, Vice Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer of CATL, the project’s battery supplier. “Its technical reliability and affordability will promote further global deployment of different renewable energy applications.”
The wind farm has a capacity of 400 MW and the PV farm 200 MW. A CSP plant supplies a further 50 MW.
CATL said that one of the challenges at the site, in Golmud, Qinghai province, is that the temperatures can vary from -33.6°C to 35.5°C. It has deployed a cooling system that uses air passages and air flow designs to maintain a consistent cabinet temperature. A battery management unit will kick-in the battery cooling system as soon as it detects thermo concerns, while pre-stored electricity protects the battery from capacity loss or lithium plating caused by charging in cold temperatures.
In addition, the project has tough structural requirements, as Golmud lies in an active seismic zone, which calls for vibration and shock absorption, CATL said.
