Battery storage system maximises renewable integration

Saft has developed a new high-energy density storage system (ESS) optimised for time-shifting applications: a key enabler for the massive integration of low-carbon renewable energy on power grids.

Modular Intensium Shift (I-Shift) 3 MWh containers are scalable building blocks and can be installed in line-ups with power conversion equipment with a 50% smaller system footprint, while reducing 50% of site-related activities, allowing a faster deployment of utility-scale storage plants.

Easy sea and road transportation, standardisation, plug-and-play installation are assets to speed up project delivery. For instance, four groups of twin line-ups with 48 I-Shift containers can provide a reliable 32MW/128 MWh four-hour energy storage system with lower land requirements and civil works’ needs.

The massive growth of renewable production increases the need for storage systems suited for shifting worldwide. I-Shift allows operators to store electric energy when it is abundantly available so it can be used during periods of high consumption. This ensures a more effective use of valuable decarbonised electricity. A typical example consists of shifting the output of utility-scale solar farms from daylight hours to evening periods when power is most needed by customers.

Hervé Amossé, Saft’s executive vice president for energy storage said: “The launch of I-Shift demonstrates Saft’s ability to innovate, fulfilling the needs of a growing energy storage market, as operators need flexible, cost-efficient, turnkey solutions for energy shifting. I-Shift thereby supports the energy transition, enabling faster integration of low carbon renewables to the grid. I-Shift’s innovative design, covered by eight new patents, includes improvements on thermal efficiency and ruggedness, with 30% more storage capacity. Customers can also rely on Saft’s decades of proven experience with hundreds of storage systems operational worldwide.”

Available from mid-2023, Intensium Shift (I-Shift) is based on lithium iron phosphate (LFP) technology. It is suited to energy time-shifting, peaking and capacity support applications on transmission and distribution grids.

Customers can use these individual 20-foot containers with 3.0 megawatt-hour (MWh) storage capacity to handle the output of multi-megawatt sites for between two and eight hours, either co-located on renewable farms, or as standalone sites.

I-Shift containers are fully populated in Saft’s factories and use a modular approach embedding batteries, thermal systems and digital control interfaces connecting to Saft’s cloud-based data platform I-Sight. They benefit from Saft’s safety concept with a unique combination of proven and tested safety devices, such as fire suppression systems or blast panels.