Ingeteam, a global leader in power electronics and electrical engineering, in consortium with SAFT, an international battery manufacturer, and Corex Solar, signed a multi-million euro contract for supplying the French Commission de Régulation de l’Énergie (CRE) the largest photovoltaic plant with energy storage.
The Bardzour plant is the largest project announced in the group of 16 solar farm projects awarded in 2012 under the French CRE tender for a total of 50 MW of solar photovoltaic production capacity with storage in Corsica and French overseas departments.
This project, promoted by the French company Akuo Energy, is located on La Réunion island in the Indian Ocean. Its 9 MW production capacity equals the average consumption of 13,500 people.
In terms of the storage system, Ingeteam is responsible for supplying the plant’s power electronics equipment, Energy Management System (EMS), Advanced Automation Controller (AAC), medium-voltage switchgear, installation, commissioning, training and an operation and maintenance contract which will assure the availability and performance of the battery system, with a storage capacity of 9 MWh. Ingeteam is also supplying all of the plant’s photovoltaic inverters.
Electrical storage linked to renewable generation plants in weak grid environments, as is the case of La Réunion island, permits greater renewable generation integration and equips the electrical system with enhanced management capacity thanks to the delivery of stable, predictable power, regardless of the intermittency of the renewable resource, thus minimizing deviations from the power forecast.
In this sense, the control system supplied by Ingeteam is a key element in guaranteeing the efficient management of energy flows in the system and to the grid, in accordance with demanding technical specifications. Deviations in production are penalised. Hence, Akuo Energy will depend on a precise energy management system as well as on the functioning of a stable system over time to assure an income and ROI in line with its objectives.
This type of plant forms part of the universe of smart grids — electrical grids which enable smart, advanced management of available electrical energy.
This new project goes alongside the 1MW /3MWh energy storage plant (also with SAFT Li-ion technology batteries), commissioned in 2013 in Gran Canaria (Spain) as well as the 4MW/6s supercapacitor project, also commissioned in 2013 in La Palma (Spain), for minimizing the loss of generation capacity and avoiding blackouts.