The World’s First “100% Renewable” Grid
Originally published by the ECOreport
Younicos has just announced that construction of the world’s first “100% renewable” grid is underway. The battery storage comes from Leclanché’s lithium-ion technology and manufacturing plant in Germany. According to Leclanché CEO Anil Srivastava, this will be the first time “a one megawatt-scale power system is being stabilized using batteries – without the need for thermal generators.”
100% Penetration Of The Grid
This “100% renewable” penetration of the grid will not occur 100% of the time.
A third of the Azorean island of Graciosa’s existing fossil fuel generation will remain as backup power and to be employed during prolonged periods of unfavorable weather.
Younicos’ software and controls will balance short-term power fluctuations, enabling wind and solar to provide 100% of Graciosa’s electricity most of the time.
“Our technology allows us to use as many renewables as is economically optimal. This is not only drastically reducing CO2 emissions, but also lowering energy costs, since we are replacing expensive imported diesel fuel through locally produced renewable energy,” said Younicos CEO Stephen L. Prince.
Sufficiently Impressed To Take A 50.1% stake
Danish financial investor Recharge A/S was sufficiently impressed to take a 50.1% stake in the 24 million Euro Younicos-engineered system and is exploring similar possibilities on neighboring islands.
“The business model pioneered here makes the financing of the changeover to renewables an attractive investment that can be replicated wherever power is generated by expensive imported fuel,” said Scott Macaw, co-founder and Director of Recharge.
Photos Credits: courtesy Younicos
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