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Dutch energy company Eneco will use innovative storage technology to create a virtual renewable power plant. In partnership with S4 Energy, three projects will be developed with a combined total capacity of 25 MW. Under the agreement signed by Energy Storage NL participants Eneco and S4 Energy, the storage systems can be used for balancing transport and distribution grids – without the need to generate extra power from fossil fuels. 

The partnership with S4 Energy is in line with Eneco’s strategy to be a leading investor in renewable energy. Over the next few years, Eneco aims to double its sustainable installed capacity, and this will have a substantial impact on the power transport and distribution grids. Grid balancing in particular becomes more challenging when more energy is derived from sustainable sources.

Currently, nearly all the power needed for grid balancing is provided by gas or coal-fueled power plants. Eneco is continually looking for potential sustainable alternatives, and temporary storage of surplus power is one of the most interesting options. S4 Energy develops and produces storage systems which are particularly suitable for grid balancing, because of their high power capacity and (dis)charging speed. Currently the company is working on three projects with a combined total power capacity of 25 MW, with the support of Energiefonds Overijssel and Participatiefonds Duurzame Economie Noord-Holland.

“This gives us a powerful instrument to further develop our growing portfolio of steerable sustainable energy solutions”, says Lucien Wiegers, commercial director Trading at Eneco Energy Trade. “Such solutions are capable of supplying power on demand, a functionality which so far has typically been provided by fossil-fuel power plants. That represents a substantial boost towards achieving our sustainability goals.”

S4 Energy welcomes the collaboration with Eneco. “Eneco has the expertise in power and balancing markets to extract more social and economic value from our systems”, says project director Dominique Becker Hoff. “For example, by trading on short-term electricity markets and by providing grid operator TenneT TSO with primary and secondary reserve power. In short, there are many ways in which this partnership can flourish.”

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