Cutting Energy Purchase by a Third? Perfect Task for Batteries

Battery storage is increasingly used to bridge the gap between fluctuating renewable energy production and high demand outside of energy production peaks. Let's take a look at a project that takes this concept on another level.

The headquarters of our parent company Bochemie is located in Bohumín, Czech Republic, with the chemical production there being by its nature very energy intensive. The company's management could have simply bought a more efficient boiler, installed some photovoltaics on the roof and called it a day. However, these technologies are expensive, which is why you want to maximize the ROI of your CAPEX, to put it in management speak. In order to achieve this, one has to approach the project holistically, looking at production and other processes in detail from the point of view of energy consumption. 

Therefore, in a first step, Bochemie collected as much data as possible and carefully evaluated the findings. Based on this analysis, the company adopted several simple but smart measures that were achievable without complicated financing. After a few years, Bochemie implemented a series of more demanding measures including, but not limited to, a new steam source, high-powered combined heat and power unit, or CHP, and a new central controlling system with remote dispatching. Already these measures have proven key to sustaining the energy crisis of 2022 which, combined with other factors, would have had a much worse impact if left unsolved.

Currently, the factory consumes almost 30 percent less energy than in 2022, which helps to tackle the increased energy costs. However, at least in Europe, energy prices are more and more volatile, to which the factory must be resilient. That's why the medium-term target is to save an equivalent to 60 percent of the baseline consumption. To achieve it, a third phase of the facility's modernization will be implemented this year, and this is when ESS comes into play.  

More efficient with batteries 

Firstly, PV panels will be installed both on the roofs and on the ground in parts of the premises that are unusable for production or storage warehouses. The MWp-scale photovoltaic power plant will be complemented by a 1.5 MWh ESS, while Bochemie's technicians are already planning an increase in its capacity. The system is of our own manufacture – as you may have noticed, GAZ just unveiled a new line of ESSs consisting of Lithium-ion cells of the LFP variety. By the way, according to the company's management, both the PV plant and the storage will pay for themselves in just three to four years, that is without any incentives  or funding in the form of governmental subsidies. 

The storage will enable Bochemie to cover peaks in consumption with their own electricity and thus reduce the capacity reserved with the energy supplier by at least a third, a concept known as peak-shaving. At the same time, our colleagues in Bohumín will be able to buy electricity on the spot market more effectively and predictably and will not need to sell their excess production at lower prices. In other words, this will help tackle energy price peaks as Bochemie will buy part of its electricity consumption when it is cheapest and use it when it is most expensive. 

However, apart from also serving as a backup source for important machinery and systems in the factory, the ESS’s planned expansion will provide so-called power balance services. Not so long ago, Bochemie joined an aggregation block consisting of several other companies, through which it can sell the electricity produced by its CHP unit and later by the PV as well. Abbreviated as aFRR, mFRR and FCR, these mechanisms are used by transmission system operators to keep the electricity grid stable and reliable.

So, in industrial facilities, battery storage has several different applications, and combining these functions contributes significantly to both faster payback and the overall efficiency of the system. The company, or any other organization, is more independent from the volatile energy market, or in other words, its energy costs become more predictable. And in a broader picture, complementing renewable energy generation with batteries enables us to harness green energy without the drawbacks associated with it, paving the way for a sustainable and resilient energy future.  

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you are interested in more details about the battery, its operation and benefits. Live visits of the Bohumín site are also possible.