Green Hydrogen – CIUDEN The installation of the sodium-sulfur battery energy storage system has been successfully completed
- The facility will be used to store renewable energy from the solar photovoltaic plant and to power two electrolyzers for the production of green hydrogen.
- The maximum nominal charge/discharge power of these batteries is 1.000 kW / 750 kW and the minimum nominal stored energy is 5.800 kWh.
- This is a project funded by the European Union’s Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR), Next Generation EU
La Fundación Ciudad de la Energía (CIUDEN), dependent on the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO), has recently completed the operational tests of the energy storage facility with sodium-sulfur (NaS) technology, which is part of the green hydrogen production and energy storage project of CIUDEN.
This NaS battery energy storage system operates at a temperature of 305°C. Numerous tests were performed upon receipt, including a cold start-up test to verify the operation of each individual unit (e.g., heating and temperature control of the battery system), as well as tests involving the entire system, known as hot tests, operational tests, and performance tests. The maximum nominal charge/discharge power of these batteries is 1.000 kW/750 kW, and the minimum nominal stored energy is 5.800 kWh. The results obtained from the operational, commissioning, and performance tests certified that the operating limits indicated in the tender were met.
This project was awarded by tender to the Spanish company CYMI (Control y Montajes Industriales of the COBRA IS group) with a base budget of €4.840.000, and as an integrating company it has implemented this energy storage system in the Technology Development Centre of CIUDEN in Cubillos del Sil. The batteries were manufactured by the Japanese company NGK, whose European distributor is the German company BASF.
This facility will be used in conjunction with other energy storage systems to store renewable energy from a 2,1 MWp solar photovoltaic plant and to power two electrolyzers: one polymer membrane (PEM) and the other high-temperature solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) for the production of green hydrogen. This will allow for experimentation and self-consumption with the objectives of evaluating the technology’s performance and efficiency, its compatibility with power generation systems, optimizing energy management, improving security of supply, reducing costs, and experimenting with different usage scenarios.
The green hydrogen production and energy storage project of the Fundación Ciudad de la Energía It is funded by the European Union’s Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR), Next Generation EU, and aims to obtain industrial-scale technical data on the various technologies implemented that will allow for extrapolation of their optimal operating conditions, favoring the decarbonization of the industry.
What is a sodium-sulfur battery energy storage system?
A sodium-sulfur battery energy storage system consists of modules that house batteries, in which energy is stored. This technology is based on the electrochemical charge/discharge reactions that occur inside the batteries, between the positive electrode (cathode) of molten sulfur (S) and the negative electrode (anode) of molten sodium (Na). The electrodes are separated by a solid ceramic, sodium beta alumina, which serves as the electrolyte and only allows the passage of positively charged sodium ions. The battery temperature must be maintained within the range of 300–340°C so that the electrodes are in a molten state. For this reason, the system requires separate heaters. The main advantages of this technology are its large storage capacity, due to its high energy density, its long service life, its resistance to high temperatures, the low cost of sodium sulfide, and the availability of the necessary raw materials.
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Green Hydrogen – CIUDEN The installation of the sodium-sulfur battery energy storage system has been successfully completed, source
