Equans builds an innovative solution for renewable energy storage
While renewable energies have a major role to play in the energy transition, they have the disadvantage of being intermittent and sometimes produced in greater quantities than the grid requires. The solution therefore lies in their storage. Equans, in association with Blue Solutions, has thus been selected by RTE (Réseau de Transport d'Électricité) to experiment with a storage system, which will make it possible to make the most of these renewable energy productions, while avoiding congestion of the electrical network.
Equans and Blue Solutions partner to store renewable energy
In Ventavon, in the Hautes-Alpes region, Equans is participating in the construction of one of the three pilot units of the experiment called RINGO. Ambitious and innovative, the project (authorized by the CRE) will host a new-generation LMP® (Lithium Metal Polymer) battery known as "all-solid" has the particular advantage of being safer because it is nonflammable. Designed by Blue Solutions, a subsidiary of the Bolloré Group, the battery has a capacity of 10 MW and can store the equivalent of the consumption of 10,000 households. The energy stored in the battery when the grid is at risk of saturation is destored elsewhere simultaneously.
In the RINGO project, Blue Solutions is the lead company in the consortium that will supply and install the LMP® batteries. Equans will be in charge of the civil engineering studies and connection work. Equans' SCLE teams will design, supply, test, and commission the electrical equipment, energy conversion system, storage system control, and high voltage substation.
In the RINGO project, Blue Solutions is the lead contractor in the consortium that will supply and install the LMP® batteries.
Storing renewable energies, an innovation to improve the performance of the electrical network
The key to the project lies in the power converter, which interfaces between the batteries, which run on direct current, and the grid, which runs on alternating current. It converts the energy stored in the batteries into electricity distributed over the lines and contributes to the stability of the grid.
The converter along with the filter, precharge device and cooling system will be arranged in two containers.
Work will begin in June 2020 for implementation of the first tests as early as June 2021. Equans will then coordinate the construction phase.
Ventavon, a strategic electrical infrastructure
The Ventavon electrical substation is a strategic crossroads for the region's network. Indeed, it is the convergence point of 3 power lines, but has only one evacuation line to the coast via Sisteron and thus constitutes a funnel concentrating local hydroelectric and photovoltaic productions. The RINGO project rehabilitates the site of a former hydroelectric dam, giving this Buëch region a role as a driving territory in the production of renewable energy!