First Danish wind turbine battery offers a grid solution

A wind turbine owner in western Jutland has connected a large battery directly to one of his turbines, in what DR reports is the first installation of its kind in Denmark.

Gunnar Lisby, who owns Lisby WP, had the battery retrofitted to a turbine at Kikkenborg between Bækmarksbro and Vemb. The battery resembles a white shipping container.

When wind power is plentiful and electricity is cheap, Lisby stores electricity in the battery. When the wind drops and prices rise, he sells the stored electricity on the power exchange.

“I have chosen the idealistic route and shown that it can be done, while it can also pay off,” Lisby said.

Electricity prices reached seven kroner per kilowatt on Monday, their highest level in almost two years. Lisby said more facilities like his could help smooth prices and reduce the need for consumers to consider when to do laundry or charge an electric car.

“When more of these facilities are built, prices will level out and fall,” he said.

Battery operates without subsidies

The battery has a power output of 2.2 megawatts, equivalent to the consumption of about 375 households. Its capacity is 4.5 megawatt-hours, roughly equivalent to the power used by 70 electric cars.

It was fitted to a 150-metre Vestas turbine built in 2013. The battery uses the turbine’s existing cable and did not require a new grid connection. It is approved to store electricity both from the turbine and from the grid.

Lisby said the battery cost a single-digit million amount. He expects the investment to pay for itself within five to 10 years, depending on electricity prices.

“There is no subsidy for this facility. We operate under completely ordinary commercial conditions,” he said.

Could ease pressure on the grid

Denmark’s electricity grid is currently under pressure, with companies waiting to be connected. These include supermarket chain Lidl, which wants its lorries to run on electricity instead of diesel, as well as data centres that require large amounts of power.

Energinet, which is responsible for Denmark’s overall electricity infrastructure, has previously said that companies may have to wait up to 10 years for a connection.

Brian Vad Mathiesen, a professor of energy planning at Aalborg University, said batteries could form part of the solution.

“It is essentially a win-win, both for society and for the owners,” he said.

Mathiesen said the battery at the Kikkenborg turbine was a good idea and that more such solutions were needed. Using existing infrastructure more efficiently could solve some of the bottlenecks in the grid, he said.

He added that the electricity grid still needs to be expanded, but batteries could reduce or postpone some investments.

New battery connections paused

The expansion of large battery facilities has been put on hold for now. In March, Energinet paused new large connections to the electricity grid as it struggled to keep up with demand.

The pause also affects batteries that, like Lisby’s, can draw electricity from the grid as well as store power from their own turbine.

“If a battery is also going to charge from the grid, it requires grid capacity. New battery projects that need to draw power from the grid are therefore subject to the same restrictions as other large electricity consumers,” said Kim Willerslev Jakobsen, chief executive of Energinet Systemansvar.

Lisby received permission from his local grid company before Energinet introduced the pause.

“For now, there is a plug in the system, and that is actually the biggest challenge at the moment,” he said.

Energinet will resume processing applications for grid connections later in the autumn.