News Release from Eneco B.V.

Wind Industry Profile of

Eneco B.V.

06/01/2018

Europe's largest battery ready for its role in the energy market

Europe's largest battery, EnspireME, is now ready to supply reserve capacity to the European electricity grid. The battery is located in Jardelund in the north of Germany and was constructed in a period of approximately 8 months. Today, the battery was put into operation officially by the joint owners Eneco and Mitsubishi Corporation.

EnspireME has a capacity of 48 MW and contains around 10,000 lithium-ion batteries, which is sufficient to store power for some 5,300 German households for a period of 24 hours. Initially, the battery will be used for the primary reserve market, where European grid operators purchase the reserve capacity they require to guarantee the 50 Hertz frequency on the grid. The battery can take over the role of primary reserve provider from coal and gas fired plants and, thus, contribute to further improvement of the sustainability of the energy system. As of this week, the battery will participate in the weekly auction of primary reserve capacity.

Investigation storage local wind energy

With the support of the German federal state of Schleswig-Holstein, Eneco and Mitsubishi Corporation are also investigating possibilities to connect local wind farms to the battery. In the event of overproduction by local wind farms or an overload on the grid, the wind energy can temporarily be stored in a part of the battery. This can prevent the situation in which wind turbine owners are requested by the grid operator to switch off their wind turbines.

Opening

Guests attending the official opening event today included Environment Minister of Schleswig-Holstein, Dr. Robert Habeck and the Mayor of Jardelund, Gudrun Lemke. The result of the naming contest was also announced during this event. Inhabitants of Jardelund and Böxlund were allowed to submit suggestions for the name of the battery. The entry of the 7-year-old Martha Clausen, Speicher Energy aus der Natur, or SEnNa, was the winner.

Support

The battery project was realised in part with support of the Norddeutsche EnergieWende (NEW 4.0) foundation, SINTEG Smart Energy Showcases and the Landesprogramm Wirtschaft. For the purpose of this initiative, an investigation is being carried out regarding the compensation of reactive power.