Auto production company rebrands itself. - Volkswagen plans to establish a sizable energy storage plant in northern Germany.
Volkswagen Group is dipping its toes into the world of large battery storage systems for the power grid. Plans are underway to launch a "Power Center" in Germany, which aims to store green energy, revealed Technology Board Member Thomas Schmall in Berlin recently. The exact location remains unknown, but groundbreaking is scheduled in the next 6 to 8 weeks and the facility will commence operation by early next year. "We're making things real here," said Schmall.
The project is being spearheaded by VW's charging network division Elli. The initial capacity of this facility clocks in at 700 megawatt-hours, but could potentially expand to a gigawatt-hour. This amount of energy is enough to replace a conventional gas power plant. More "Power Centers" are in the pipeline, creating new business opportunities for the company.
The primary objective of these facilities is to serve as buffers for wind and solar energy, thus helping maintain the stability of the power grid. "Investing in stationary battery storage systems is a vital step forward for the sustainable transformation of energy supply," shared Schmall. When there's an oversupply of wind and solar power, these turbines and panels have to be shut down. But with large battery storage systems, the situation can be changed.
VW anticipates a tenfold increase in the demand for such battery storage systems in Germany over the next few years. So far, there's a mere one gigawatt-hour of storage capacity available in the country. "We'll double that with this one Power Center alone," said Schmall.
Another use for used electric car batteries will be explored as well. Although these batteries may not hold enough energy for cars anymore, they can still store enough electricity for large-scale storage. For the inaugural facility, factory-new batteries will have to suffice, as there are yet not enough used batteries from electric cars. "They're just coming to us now," admitted Schmall. However, VW intends to use retired electric car batteries in future "Power Centers" before recycling them in step three.
Even before this, VW opened a smaller Power Center in Kassel last year. Since then, Elli has been participating in the power exchange with charging network. There, they've employed used battery systems from the discontinued electric mini-car E-Up. Other car manufacturers like BMW and Audi are also dabbling in using used batteries for stationary energy storage, but so far, only for their own energy consumption or at their charging stations.
