China’s State Grid together with BYD has completed the construction work of a battery energy storage station which may probably be the largest globally. This station is situated at Zhangbei, the project is a combination of 140 MW of both solar and wind renewable energy generation, a smart power transmission system and 36 MWh of energy storage.
36 Mega-Watt-hr BYD Battery Energy Storage Array Housed at Zhangbei, China (Photo: Business Wire)
The renewable energy sources are both wind and solar. The transmission system is a smart system. The unique distinction of this unit is the culmination of a renewable energy system and a battery storage unit.
With the completion of the system, the State Grid presents a stable solution that will enable transfer of huge amounts of renewable electricity to the grid, ensuring highest degree of safety during the energy transfer. BYD manufactures solar panels with capacity of 1GW annually; however, in case of this storage station their role was to provide energy storage battery arrays. The iron-phosphate battery from BYD was chosen for energy storage mainly due to its long lasting service life. Peak Shaving, a load levelling charge and discharge method from BYD was also implemented for building the system. BYD has been associated with a number of MegaWatt level cooperative projects with China’s Southern Power Grid since September 30, 2011. The recently completed storage project was the largest that they have ever worked on so far with China’s Southern Power Grid. The battery storage system is capable of enhancing the efficiency of renewable energy by 5 to 10%.