The question of energy storage remains a key issue for all forms of renew­able energy. Andritz AG and Mercedes-Benz Energy GmbH are now cooperating …

… on the development of a new approach to this problem, bringing together many years of hydropower know-how and a wealth of battery expertise. Consequently Lithium-Ion batteries are now being repurposed as stationary power storage units. A minimal fall-off in performance makes them unviable for usage in electric cars, but as energy storage media they can be used for up to 10 years. More­over, this secondary use of Lithium-Ion modules doubles their commercial utilisation. Energy stored in the batteries can be made available very quickly and opens up new opportunities for power plant owners and managers. Now it’s possible to compensate the effects of volatile electrical grid feed from power plants using renewable energy sources.