On Monday, November 7, 2016, the first pilot of Elestor’s Hydrogen Bromine Flow Battery (HBFB), operating under real life conditions has been officially started in Deventer, the Netherlands. The consortium, consisting of Elestor, Witteveen+Bos, Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN) and the HAN University of Applied Sciences (HAN), investigates with this pilot the optimal way of applying this storage technology on a large scale. The pilot is a first in Europa.
Witteveen+Bos facilitates the pilot: The storage system is installed at one of their office buildings in Deventer and is connected to a set of innovative solar panels. These panels have been developed by ECN, based on their Back Contact (BC)-technology. In contrary to conventional solar panels, these BC modules are only interconnected on the rear side, resulting in less shadow effects, a more efficient use of active area, lower production costs (higher yields) and a much more aesthetic design. HAN University has taken care of system integration and power electronics subjects of the project.
Furthermore, Witteveen+Bos, being a specialist in this field, has taken the lead in the definition of safety procedures and in obtaining formal approvals from the Dutch authorities.
During the ceremony on November 7th, Karin Sluis, Managing Director of Witteveen+Bos, emphasized on the importance of the joined effort as made by all consortium partners: “In our projects, we apply 6 sustainable design principles, based on the by the United Nations defined ‘Sustainable Development Targets’ “says Karin Sluis. “This Flow Battery pilot is a beautiful example of how we can jointly accomplish these targets”. After an introduction of the working principles and features of the Flow Battery by Wiebrand Kout, CTO of Elestor, and a lecture about the innovative Back Contact technology by Nico Dekker, Senior Advisor at ECN, alderman Frits Rorink of the city of Deventer underlined the importance of this pilot for the city.
At the end of the presentations, the pilot was started symbolically with a joint push on the start button, illuminated by a nice firework act.
