There is a very high interest in investing in energy storage batteries, the most common being for short-term storage, said Mihaela Coroiu, Director Sustainable Energy Projects at EnergoBit.
“We have reached a point where everyone wants storage systems because costs have come down and demand has gone up. These systems have become a necessity because of the fluctuations generated by wind and solar power plants. For EnergoBit, this context brings a lot of activity,” said Coroiu, speaking at the conference “Stepping stones for the BESS technologies development”, organised by Energynomics.
According to Coroiu, the batteries are ideal for renewable energy production from both photovoltaics and wind power. This was predictable and a logical step in the development of the energy sector. Now the next challenge needs to be identified that will further stimulate the appetite for investment, probably in advanced energy flow management solutions. In addition, imbalances in the National Energy System (SEN) actually act as an incentive for investment in stand-alone batteries.
Coroiu added that the Ministry of Energy is creating a favourable legislative framework for the allocation of non-reimbursable funding for these solutions. So there are opportunities for development, but the question remains about the evolution of energy prices. In the long term, she said, energy must become affordable for consumers. This means minimising production costs and renewables should offer energy at competitive prices. However, transporting energy through SEN will never be cheap, and system imbalances will not make renewable energy truly affordable. The solution could be to produce energy as close as possible to the point of consumption, using short-term storage, and investors are already interested in this type of solution. A development model based on micro-grids, where energy generation and storage is managed locally for consumers in a given area, could bring significant benefits.
Although micro-grids have been discussed for over a year and a half without much enthusiasm, EnergoBit is ready to offer viable technical solutions and to implement such systems in Romania. However, there is still no legislation dedicated to this field. Currently, the focus is on large batteries for system balancing. EnergoBit is already working on storage projects totalling more than 6 GW, while Romania’s target for this year is only 500 MW. This significant gap between the real needs and what is actually being implemented is a major problem that needs to be addressed, Coroiu added.
The conference “Stepping stones for the BESS technologies development” was organised by Energynomics, with the support of our partners: AJ Brand, Alive Capital, BCR, Big Store, Elektra Renewable Support, EnergoBit, Enery, Enevo Group, Enexus. EVOLVE Energy Management Solutions, Huawei, Nofar Energy, Photomate, Prime Batteries Technology, Pixii AS, Renomia Gallagher, smartPulse, SolarToday, SolaX Power, Think Blu Solution, Wiren, WTW Romania, YEO.