The energy storage, energy management and smart grid part of Modern Energy will start off as a proof of concept project for better energy planning and reduction of peak power.
With more and more solar and wind energy the energy production will be more intermittent. In addition, the power transmission is limited between northern Sweden (where much of the energy is produced) and southern Sweden (where much of the energy is consumed). Everything in the utility power grid needs to be designed after the worst peak loads and there is a large difference between average load and peak load. With energy storage costs coming down there is a huge potential in using energy storage as “shock absorbers” for the local and utility power grids.
A test bed is being built up in our home including a new geothermal heat pump, one or two new Tesla Powerwall 2 and an electric car. External information will be downloaded over internet. Both the heat pump and the charging of the electric car can give high peak loads without energy storage and smart control.
The main goal with the project is “peak shaving”, to reduce the peak loads at home, as well as using more energy from the utility grid when the energy loads are low (as well as energy costs).
There could also be ways of interacting with the power grid company to “sell back” peak power, meaning you are getting money back if they can limit the maximum power output at a specific peak load hour. There will probably be a lot of creative solutions here the next coming years.
The solution for “cloud-based” energy storage recently introduced by Jämtkraft AB for residential customers is just brilliant. For a cost of 20 SEK per month the customer can deposit excess power from its solar installations and use it later. This creative approach is a win-win. For the utility it helps solve a seasonal problem. Being so far north the shifts in temperature and light between summer and winter are big. Peak demand is in the winter. Using excess power from customers in the summer will reduce the need for hydro power. Instead the water dams can fill up during the summer and be used for power generation during the winter.
