Statoil installing intelligent battery system named ‘Batwind’ for world’s first floating wind farm

Batwind offshore wind project, Hywind Scotland

Batwind battery will make decisions based upon real-time data to determine when to hold electricity, when to send to grid

Hywind Scotland, the world’s first floating wind farm, will install a 1MW battery system called “Batwind” that it hopes will maximize the value of the project’s electricity, according to a press release from project owner Statoil.

“As part of Statoil‘s strategy of gradually supplementing our oil and gas portfolio with profitable renewable energy, getting to understand energy storage is important,” said Sebastian Bringsværd head of Hywind Development in Statoil.

“We believe battery storage will be key to future power systems, and with more renewables coming on it will be crucial to handle storage to ensure stability and reliability in the energy supply.”

German-American technology company Younicos, which specializes in energy storage systems, will install the Batwind battery system.

“Batwind adds value by mitigating wind variability – and by that make wind a more reliable energy producer year around. That will expand the use and market for wind and renewables in the future.” said Bringsværd.

The storage solution project will be operational from Q2 2018. This is the first battery storage system connected to a floating wind farm, says Statoil.

“Through Batwind we are including Younicos’ intelligent Y.Q software – or a brain if you like – on top of the battery to ensure that the battery behaves the way we want it to behave. We want the battery to automatically know when to hold back and store electricity, and when to send it out to the grid,” said Bringsværd.

“Battery energy storage systems have existed in the market for several years and it is rapidly developing. However, there is limited knowledge of how to make a battery act based on dynamic information, in order to maximize value of renewable energy.”

The two Y.Cubes, 10-foot modular battery containers, will be placed at the Hywind onshore substation in Peterhead, Scotland.

Based on testing results of the Batwind storage system connected to Hywind Scotland, Statoil and Masdar (a renewable energy company based in the United Arab Emirates, also known as the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company) will assess next steps in further developing the solution.

Batwind is a partnership between Statoil and Masdar. Hywind Scotland is operated by Statoil on behalf of partner Masdar, where Statoil holds an ownership share of 75 per cent and Masdar 25 per cent.