Metzig: Given the challenges which companies face in connection with the energy transition, there is currently very keen interest in UPS storage systems. Our customers are aware of the advantages of a hybrid system which enhances safety for sensitive consumers and which – in parallel – provides buffer storage of one’s own generated power, so that it can be made available on a flexible basis.
And the considerations with regard to reducing energy costs – for example by reducing peak loads – are also significant when it comes to the rapid charging of electric vehicles.

We are currently finding that many companies are taking the crisis as the ideal time to set themselves up to meet the future. In most cases, this will include establishing an environmentally-friendly power supply system, typically one which is based on a storage system with UPS capability.

Metzig: At the end of 2018, the initial outline concepts were discussed, followed by a budget quotation in the first quarter of 2019. By the end of 2019, we received the order, once everything had been analysed and the technical details had been sorted out. It was in the summer of 2020 that we completed the project work, production, supply, commissioning and trial run. Our service department has a 320 kVA ENERTRONIC modular Storage system installed on site with the customer, and equipped with eight 40-kVA modules (expandable to ten modules), a supply connection panel compliant with VDE AR-N 4105, a DC connection and communications panel, together with 10 battery cabinets whose energy capacity comes to a total of 300 kWh.
The ENERTRONIC modular Storage system is based on hardware tried & tested on the industrial UPS marketplace. It offers excellent linear peak shaving over the entire load range, and comes with the UPS functionality required in order to protect critical supplies.

Metzig: The energy storage system needed to be integrated into the company’s existing infrastructure with – of course – the lowest possible overheads. Consequently, technical criteria dictated just one solution: the Company’s own transformer station, for the installation and integration of the system. The grid structure in place meant that it was ideal to apply connection directly to the low-voltage supply, especially as this is a functionality that comes with the ENERTRONIC modular Storage product. Installation in the switchgear room was not really an option for the customer. The available separate room needed a very compact layout, since the system had to be designed with flexible scalability, to cover the eventuality of any possible adaptations to power capacity. From the outset, thanks to the modular architecture and the advantageously small footprint characterising the ENERTRONIC modular Storage system, we were able to offer ideal solutions, which were very cost-effective. And we imagine that our range of “soft skills” – starting with active customer consultation, passing through the design and interface planning stages and culminating in turnkey handover (conducted by our service department) – all helped to win the day.

Metzig: For the customer’s parent group, this plant represents something of a pilot project. Now, we have received enquiries for similar storage systems with UPS capability for further locations. I believe that this proves that active peak load management is regarded as being highly valuable in financial terms, especially in conjunction with the UPS functionality as supplied by BENNING.
Our customer is aware that in the near future it will have to face up to further challenges associated with the energy transition, such as the capability to incorporate sustainable energy sources, electrical mobility and enhanced energy efficiency in parallel with the assurance of uninterruptible power supplies for its processes critical to operation at all of its sites. In Saxony, at any rate, it has already set up the optimum conditions for that investment.

Metzig: It goes without saying that this is dependent on a wide range of factors. However, we can foresee that our UPS capability storage systems – fulfilling UPS classification criterion VFI-SS-111 – will be carving out a whole new market segment for themselves. They are markedly more cost-effective than other known applications.

And we can imagine, given the major cost/benefit advantages, that in a great number of fields of industry, the marketplace for conventional energy storage systems is going to merge with the UPS systems marketplace.