Northvolt and Vattenfall have announced a new battery energy storage solution that could provide a zero-emission alternative to running diesel generators on remote mine sites.
The Voltpack Mobile System is a rugged, highly modular lithium-ion battery system that can serve as a modular power supply solution to meet energy and power requirements of a wide variety of market scenarios, the companies said.
Prime applications include powering remote electricity grids, reinforcing weak grids, supporting electric vehicle charging and delivering grid services such as balancing power, flexibility, or other ancillary services, they said.
“Designed for redeployment, the system can be deployed for operations lasting days, weeks or even longer periods of time,” the companies said. “This characteristic opens Voltpack Mobile System up to opportunities of leasing and is expected to significantly expand the system’s utility.”
Within the project, Northvolt has led development and production of core technologies, including battery and complementary inverter systems, and the battery management system. Vattenfall, drawing on the company’s experience of delivering commercial grid solutions to market, has supported Voltpack Mobile System project development to tailor the product to match the needs of the market, through both advising on design and functionality, they said.
Emad Zand, President Battery Systems, Northvolt, said the company sees an increased need from the market for flexible solutions, both in terms of use case and location.
“Voltpack Mobile System is designed to give our customers a fleet of assets that can be redeployed, repurposed and connected seamlessly,” he said. “Vattenfall has been an invaluable partner of Northvolt since our earliest days, and their contributions to this project have enabled us to accelerate development of a product built to customer requirements.”
Torbjörn Johansson, Head of Vattenfall Network Solutions Sweden, said: “The need for flexible energy solutions such as energy storage is vital for the transition to the new energy system. Energy storage provides fast access to power when customers need to peak-shave, or the capacity of the grid connection is insufficient.
“The battery storage solution will be offered as part of our concept ‘Power-as-a-service’, which means that we deliver a complete package with ownership of the energy storage and manage it to the specification of the customer. Vattenfall add(s) a long experience of owning and operating different kind of network solutions including energy storage.”
Final validation of the system will be undertaken at Vattenfall’s test and certification centre in Älvkarleby, Sweden.
Vattenfall will be the first to offer the battery unit to the market and has identified the need for sustainable solutions at industries, for microgrids, construction sites as well as for event organisers, the companies said.
Voltpack Mobile System delivers up to 250 kW with a scalable capacity from 245 kWh to 1,225 kWh of available energy, according to the companies.
“The system scales through a central interface hub, which can connect in parallel up to five self-contained Voltpacks, each containing three liquid-cooled, industrial-grade battery Voltpack Cores,” the companies said. “The hub also serves as an interface for applications, and houses inverter and auxiliary systems. If further power or storage capacity is needed, this can be fulfilled simply by connecting multiple Voltpack Mobile Systems in parallel.”
Voltpacks feature high safety standards and are designed and built by Northvolt, the companies said.
“Leveraging field-proven technologies, Voltpack Mobile System is well-suited to operate under even the harshest conditions with a rugged profile and unique design features engineered for transportation and repeated redeployment.”