Ensuring and continuity of electricity supply is the basic role of the power system as part of the critical infrastructure of the state. Without its proper operation, part or the entire economy may be paralyzed. The diversification of energy sources assumed in the security strategy of the Republic of Poland affects the rapid development of RES in the country. However, in order to ensure smoothness and stability of the entire system, it needs an integrator, i.e. Energate energy storage facilities that allow energy management, support transmission networks and build energy independence of critical infrastructure facilities and institutions.

Even 10 years ago, experts and analysts commenting on the energy security policy of the Republic of Poland spoke more often about the country's energy danger than about the smooth operation of the system. Today, the situation looks much better, thanks to the diversification of energy sources and the development of RES. Both processes should be accompanied by the modernization of transmission networks, which is expensive and time-consuming. The EY and PKEE report indicates that the Polish transmission grid needs investments of around €25 billion to meet the requirements of widely developed renewable energy sources.

Stable power

The occurring power outages show that even without crisis situations such as war, the Polish energy system can fail. The measure of the security of this system is ensuring the ability of the state's critical infrastructure to function properly. This, in turn, provides security in his wide range of understanding.

In homes or businesses, in the event of a power outage or failure, the role of the energy source is usually guaranteed power supply systems, but most often they allow you to maintain the operation of individual devices or small circuits of receiving devices for a short time. However, their capabilities are limited by low battery capacity, and in the event of a major failure, the operation of the institution or facility is stopped.

Looking at the problem from a broader perspective, usually around the holiday season, December and January, the media often raises the question "Is Poland facing the specter of a blackout?". This year, such a situation surprised the Polish energy sector on September 25, when PSE issued a message about the state of threat to the capacity market, i.e. the threat of a massive power outage.

In such situations, the solution is an energy storage that can provide energy supply to thousands of homes and businesses, while saving the system. The energy storages produced by Elmech are adapted to react uninterruptedly in such situations, i.e. in such a way that the energy recipient will not even notice the change of the power source.

Great Britain as an example

In 2019, the largest blackout in history took place in Great Britain as a result of the loss of 1.3 GW of power in the system, which led to the loss of power to about a million consumers. The first action taken to restore energy supplies was the launch of battery storage facilities such as Energate with a capacity of 475 MW, which covered 30% of the losses. Immediate supply of energy to the grid significantly reduced the effects of the failure.

Here, it should be emphasized that the UK started implementing energy storage into its electricity system as early as 2014, and recently launched a 100 MW, 100 MWh gigastorage to protect itself from the winter threat of a large-scale blackout.

Poland should follow the example of Great Britain and draw from its experience. The British transmission network is in a much better condition than the Polish one, and the installation of energy storage facilities is taking place there on a large scale.

Relieve overloaded transmission networks

In recent years, the photovoltaic boom and the rapid development of RES have significantly contributed to the policy of diversifying energy sources. As time has shown, unfortunately, not everyone, or at least not everything, was prepared for such a large increase in energy supplied to the grid by prosumers. It mainly concerns transmission networks that are "clog up" with energy from both sides of both the distributor and the prosumer. This situation causes network failures and frequent shutdowns of prosumer installations due to too high voltage.

The use of energy storage as integrators of the transmission system between prosumers and energy producers would have a positive impact on the condition of the grid and would create a favorable situation for both parties. The producer/operator would avoid the costs of repairing faults and ensure the continuity of energy supply, while the prosumer would enjoy constant energy production and use of its 100% capacity.

In this way, it is possible to maximize the share of RES in the national energy mix, as well as to overcome the problem of low connection capacities for photovoltaic and wind farms. Efficient symbiosis between RES and transmission networks is also necessary to ensure the energy stability of the state, and the role of energy storage facilities is important in this.

This was the assumption of the California state authorities, which obliged producers of RES energy to build energy storage facilities at power plants in order to stabilize production. Power networks, even the most modern ones, have their limitations, which is why the regulation of energy quality parameters is extremely important for the operation of the entire system.

Energate energy storages are adapted to perform the function of network stabilizer and improve the quality of electricity, including reactive power compensation, filtering of higher harmonics and symmetrization of phase voltage.