Alfen and Hydro launch BESS projects in the field of renewable energy sources

The 20 MW/20 MWh system will be delivered under a 10-year service contract with Alfen and will be put into operation in spring 2025. Rabbalshede Kraft also plans to add a 30 MW photovoltaic plant here in the future.

The announcement indicated that BESS will both optimize the output of the wind project (42.6 MW, consisting of seven 6.6 MW Siemens Gamesa wind turbines) and provide ancillary services to the Swedish transmission system operator (TSO) Svenska kraftnät.

Most projects in Sweden are one-hour projects, targeting the ancillary services market, which makes up the vast majority of today’s revenue stack, as mentioned in an interview this week by the CEO of BW ESS, which is currently building the country’s largest BESS (premium access) portfolio.

Alfen’s statement refers to an order for 20 MW it received in January from another IPP in Sweden, Vasa Vind, also for co-location with a wind farm.

Hydro starts exploiting solar energy and BESS at the Vetlanda factory

In parallel to the news, aluminum company Hydro (official name Norsk Hydro) has started operating three BESS units in parallel with a ground and rooftop photovoltaic installation at its extrusion plant in Vetlanda. Aluminum extrusion is the process of creating solid cross-sectional elements from a heated aluminum alloy.

The solution includes seven rooftop photovoltaic installations with a total capacity of 2.1 MWp, a ground-mounted photovoltaic panel with a capacity of 2 MWp and three BESS units with a total capacity of 4.5 MW (MWh not disclosed). The project aims to result in no net loss of biodiversity in natural habitats.

BESS will provide Hydro with the flexibility to optimize its own renewable energy consumption, but will also provide network support services in Sweden.

The ultimate goal is to bring the Hydro plants in Vetland and Finspång to net zero emissions using renewable energy.

An overview of the energy storage markets in Sweden and Finland can be found in a recent article written for Energy storage.news by the research company LCP Delta.