GE Vernova and Nidec Conversion have secured orders from 50Hertz for grid stabilization equipment to enable the integration of increasing amounts of renewables generation in Germany.
The static synchronous compensator (statcom) systems for voltage maintenance are destined for substations in Siedenbrunzow, Malchow and Rohrsdorf.
At the Malchow site, there is also short-term storage to provide instantaneous reserves.
GE Vernova has been awarded the contract to install three of the statcom systems on a turnkey basis in the Siedenbrunzow (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania) and Rohrsdorf (Saxony) substations.
Nidec Conversion will build a so-called e-statcom plant at the Malchow substation in Berlin, which will be equipped with a short-term storage system.
Operating within substations, statcoms are equipped with power electronics for dynamic voltage stability, while e-statcoms can also stabilise frequency.
These plants are necessary to help maintain grid frequency as more wind and solar plants are built and connected to the grid.
They are installed at specific strategic points in the grid and can react to voltage deviations within a few milliseconds.
The e-statcom plant in Malchow is a second-generation plant and will have a short-term storage system with supercapacitors that can provide an output of 150MW as an instantaneous reserve for 1.25 seconds.
This makes it possible to compensate for sudden fluctuations in the grid feed-in and to prevent too much deviation from the standard frequency of 50 Hertz (Hz).
Dirk Biermann, chief operating officer at 50Hertz, said: “STATCOM solutions are a necessary and important element of the energy transition.
“They continuously provide reactive power in response to voltage fluctuations. And in conjunction with short-term storage, the second-generation STATCOMs also serve to ensure frequency stability.
“The plants now ordered strengthen the resilience of our grid and help us integrate renewable energies.
“STATCOM technology supports the stabilization of power grids in an energy system with more and more fluctuating renewables and fewer fossil fuel-based power plants.”
In total, 50Hertz will install a double-digit number of statcom systems in its substations in the coming years, as well as further systems for voltage and frequency maintenance and stabilisation at numerous locations.