Nidec ASI, the Nidec Industrial Solutions platform belonging to the Nidec Group, is growing in Northern Europe and is supplying battery energy storage solutions (BESS) for three major projects in Finland and Sweden. Those systems respond to the new global environmental and energy needs and the growing demand to promote and optimize the use of renewable energy sources in order to limit polluting emissions and accelerate energy transition from fossil fuels to solar, wind and hydroelectric power, guaranteeing a green post-lockdown restart.
A direction the Scandinavian states have been pursuing for years and continue to do so, becoming a model of development for renewables and sustainable mobility for all other European countries still heavily dependent on traditional energy sources. An example that should also be followed by Italy, which could strategically exploit its immense wealth of renewable energy sources and definitively lower the need for fossil fuels while drastically reducing the cost of energy.
The first project is just going to be realized in Finland for NEOEN, one of the most important independent producers of renewable energy in the world and will become the largest BESS plant of the Nordic countries with a power capacity of 30 MW. The site, located near the city of Lappeenranta in the South East of the country, will provide the national electricity grid with all the benefits of rapid and safe energy storage, eliminating the problem of demand peaks and stabilizing the grid.
More specifically Nidec ASI will supply and install all the BESS components, inclusive of the auxiliary systems, up to the grid connection point located within FINGRID substation. In these days NIDEC ASI is delivering the first containers on site.
The other two projects (9 MW and 6 MW) will be developed in Sweden by Nidec ASI, respectively in the Lowen and Edsele sites for Uniper SE. Again, Nidec will be acting as EPC contractor and will install two complete battery storage systems which will make it possible to avoid grid congestion, store any surplus renewable energy produced and return it to the grid, thus guaranteeing its stability at all times.
Scandinavian countries, actively engaged in a 100% green energy transition, are constantly investing more resources in innovative plants that allow them to apply an energy strategy that focuses on renewables. With this in mind, battery storage systems become an integral part of modern electricity grids as key elements for realizing the vision of an electric and sustainable future: a sector in which over the years Nidec ASI has consolidated its position as technological leader and supplier of reference. An important element in promoting energy transition also lies in boosting electric mobility, and also in this area, the countries of northern Europe are ahead of the game. For example, for years Norway has restricted the circulation of vessels in the fjords to electric ferries only, on which Nidec ASI BESS systems have been installed for some time.
These three projects, along with the pilot test in collaboration with RTE (Réseau de Transport d'Electricité) in France and over 700 MWh of BESS systems installed worldwide (of which 162 MW through new projects acquired in 2019, a record year for the Group, and 60 MW so far in 2020), highlight Nidec ASI's position as a key player committed to the transition to renewable energy to combat climate change and curb the rise in atmospheric pollution, favouring the transition from a development model with high carbon emissions to a sustainable and green one.
The Group has also been one of the pioneers in the BESS market in Italy, winning contracts to supply Terna with its first storage systems, and now Nidec ASI will be participating in the new call for tenders issued by Terna for the design, construction and installation of an inertial storage system. Postponed due to the COVID crisis, the call for tenders should be relaunched in the coming months thus helping to promote the development of storage systems in Italy. The power converters for the BESS are built in the Montebello Vicentino and Milan plants while the centre of excellence for storage systems is located in the group's French plant.
“These three new projects show yet again the ever growing importance which the BESS market is assuming worldwide, one in which Nidec ASI is the leader thanks to innovative and safe technologies that for years have been adopted by the most important players in the energy sector, proof of their effectiveness and durability," said Dominique Llonch, CEO of Nidec ASI and Chairman of Nidec Industrial Solutions. “I am particularly proud of the results we have achieved in Finland and Sweden, two countries that have been investing in this sector for decades, tangibly contributing to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and promoting the sustainable development of the energy market. These projects prove how Nidec ASI continues to be effectively committed to energy transition for a 100% electric future with a very low environmental impact, offering innovative and customized solutions," added Llonch. "It is essential for Italy to follow a similar evolutionary path too. This is why I hope that the recovery plan the Government intends to unveil in September will also focus heavily on renewables, that the Terna project will be able to start again soon, and that we as Nidec ASI will contribute to the realization of similar systems in the country.”