CEZ Group is building the largest battery in the Czech Republic in Ostrava-Vítkovice

by   CIJ News iDesk III
2023-03-09   11:05
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CEZ Group is building the largest battery in the Czech Republic in Ostrava-Vítkovice. The capacity of the battery storage facility will be ten megawatts and the system will hold 9.45 megawatt-hours of energy, triple the current largest ČEZ battery in Tušimice in the Chomutov region. The battery, the size of a family house and costing more than CZK 100 million to build, is intended to help stabilize the Czech power system. It will be fully operational in the second half of this year, announced Vladislav Sobol, spokesman for the CEZ Group today. CEZ aims to build new energy storage facilities with a capacity of 300 megawatts by 2030.

"The storage system will support the transformation of the Czech energy sector and contribute to the stabilization of the power grid by providing power balance services," the spokesman said.

The large-capacity battery at the Energocentrum Vítkovice site will operate in conjunction with a conventional unit that is a major regional energy supplier. The contractors are ČEZ Energetické služby from the ČEZ ESCO group and IBG Česko. ČEZ Energo of the ČEZ ESCO group will be the operator.

"In addition to the classic energy storage, the batteries will enable the provision of various types of support services, led by primary frequency regulation. In practice, when the frequency in the grid drops below 50 hertz, the battery system will start supplying regulation energy within a few milliseconds and, on the contrary, when the frequency is above 50 hertz, it will withdraw it from the grid," the company said. Kamil Čermák, CEO of ČEZ ESCO, said that the battery system in Vítkovice can cover the daily consumption of 1,300 households, in addition to providing support services.

CEZ Group plans to install battery systems in other conventional power plants, which would be used mainly for providing support services. As of 2019, it has been operating a storage system at the Tušimice power plant site that can hold 2.8 megawatt-hours of energy.

"Europe's energy sector is changing dynamically, but the foundation remains secure energy supply and grid stability. Therefore, there is a growing demand for capacities to store energy reliably or, conversely, to deliver it quickly, as well as to provide so-called support services. Our goal is to build 300 MW in storage by 2030 and we are working intensively on the first large projects," said Daniel Beneš, Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of CEZ.

Source: CEZ Group and CTK