Flex package Adlershof
BTB’s thermal power station enhances the flexibility and stability of local heat and power generation
“The major issues posed by the energy transition and grid stability are also the domain of BTB GmbH Berlin, which has been supplying this science location with electricity and heat for many years,” explained Johannes Hinrichsen, division manager at this RWE subsidiary.
Its presence is concentrated most clearly in the Adlershof thermal power station on Albert-Einstein-Straße, consisting of combined heat and power (CHP) and Berlin’s largest thermal energy storage systems. This spring, it will be joined by an additional power to heat (P2H) unit serving to enhance the flexibility and stability of local heat and power generation.
The Adlershof thermal power station will be fitted with two P2H modules connected to the MV grid and delivering 6 MW of electric power. It will be using the Adlershof district heating system as its energy storage system. Put simply, this is a large scale, electric flow-type heater that heats water either routed directly into the Adlershof heating grid or held in 2,000 cubic metres of storage unit capacity. “This combination of P2H system, combined heat and power plant, and thermal energy storage can utilise the powerful storage capacity of the heating grid as a sorely needed power generation buffer,” replied Hinrichsen when asked to explain the connection between power and heat as seen in the present phase of the energy transition. At BTB, this is described as the “FlexPackage Adlershof”.
The background is provided by the growing generation of renewable power in Brandenburg, where wind turbines, sensitive to weather conditions, have to be taken out of the grid at increasingly shorter intervals. According to Hinrichsen, excess power does not find consumers in the generating regions and so can compromise the stability of grid voltage and frequency. Intelligent technologies must then be found that can do more than just “switch off”. The P2H system offers a “flexible load”, i.e. an additional electricity consumer that can react virtually spontaneously and deliver its full capacity in less than a minute. Even if the system is needed only for relatively few hours a year, it should pay off the investment of over one million euros – especially in view of the correspondingly high remunerations for both positive and negative reserves, i.e. the additional short term electricity and additional consumption that the Adlershof power station can now supply.
Hinrichsen went on to explain that this combined plant is completely in line with the approaches towards interlinking energy flows developed by WISTA-MANAGEMENT GMBH as part of its city energy efficiency project “High Tech – Low Ex”. However, he admitted, there are still many technical, organisational, and legal issues until “power to heat for the utilisation of regenerative supply peaks” becomes an everyday occurrence in Germany. As a consequence, the P2H system is to serve as a field oriented demonstration model in research projects that are currently being elaborated and proposed jointly with the operator of the Adlershof Technology Park.
By Klaus Oberzig for Adlershof Special