Energy storage system, charge-management and consumption reduction programme

ITER has been working for several years on high-power energy storage systems. The development of the 100kW (nominal) TEIDE 100 photovoltaic inverter and its subsequent adaptation for two-way AC/DC use have paved the way for the development of its own accumulator system. Moreover, ITER currently operates such a system, including a bank of batteries with 536 kWh storage capacity. This bank, which has been used in performance testing, is at the heart of the pilot installation and will be part of the final system.

Stemming from that, the aim of the project is to develop an integrated storage and charge management system which promises a more efficient management of the energy generated, which efficiencies, in turn, reduce ITER’s energy consumption levels.

This is a pilot project whose success will be measured by the potential for scaling up the systems industrially. The project envisages three areas of activity:

  • Energy storage will provide a supply of energy during potential peaks in demand, evening out variations in demand on an hour-by-hour basis.
  • The charge management system will help, as far as possible, to adapt certain consumption patterns to the available energy and, as relevant, to energy tariffs.
  • The consumption reduction programme will involve replacing some lighting systems with other, more efficient modern ones.

The proposed storage system will consist of lead acid batteries with a total capacity of 3.8MW and 7 inverter-charger units for power that will slightly exceed 1.1MW, but the power will be limited to 1MW, in line with the proposed link-up. These capacity levels could be raised using bolt-on components.

The inverter-charger, developed by ITER, enables AC power to be converted and delivered to the grid from the DC power stored in batteries, and conversely to charge the batteries with DC energy from AC on the grid. It also operates at a power factor of 1 and with no distortion, unlike other types of rectifiers. The variant model also includes electrical equipment that enables it to operate at higher power (160kW) than the TEIDE 100 model.

This project also constitutes an important step in ITER’s wider storage systems development pipeline. System management that takes into account renewable energy production, real-time consumption rates, load management and operational forecasts (such as weather or scheduled downtimes), is a real technological challenge, involving complex hardware, communications and software control mechanisms.

This action is included in the Strategic Framework for Insular Development (MEDI) 2016-2025.