Summer students present battery storage opportunities

"Future Development of Energy Systems: A Case of Battery Storage" was the topic of the Statkraft Summer Project 2014. During a nine weeks project phase eight international students from Russia, Italy, Greece, Norway and Germany examined battery storage opportunities for Statkraft.

The students identified markets and applications, looked at technical, regulatory and environmental issues and created business models for Statkraft to develop and use its competitive advantages.

This Thursday, the students presented their findings to the corporate management team in Oslo and gave insights into different markets where different battery solutions could be utilised for a more efficient energy system, improved grid stability and a higher integration level of renewable energy sources.

Focus areas were:

• The UK and Italian markets which are characterised by high imbalance costs
• The French islands with special grid challenges and specific incentives
• Off-grid hybrid systems looking at the mining industry in Chile with its high potential to shift energy consumption from diesel to renewable energy sources

"This is a great insight into the future. We all know the future is both uncertain and exciting. But my thought is that what the summer interns presented is part of something that is going to be huge. The business proposals presented by the interns will be thoroughly evaluated," says Christian Rynning-Tønnesen, Statkraft CEO.

Statkraft has chosen the subject of battery storage opportunities for this year's summer project to meet one of the most significant trends in the energy sector: New storage technologies are expected to play a major role in the future energy system as the development of decentralised renewable energies moves forward.

"The project group had the ambition to come up with some findings that can be of real use to Statkraft, and we are very happy to now provide the company with specific recommendations on how Statkraft can utilize battery storage technology today and in the future," says Silje Merete Grønning, one of the students participating in the summer project.

The Statkraft Summer Project is an annual student program to work on a multi-disciplinary topic and get to know Statkraft as an employer. It aims at students who have finished at least three years of higher education. Participants work in a self-driven team led by a student project manager, with supervision from Statkraft professionals. At the end of the project the students present their work to Statkraft’s corporate management team.