L R AS Published on Monday 6 December 2021 - n° 385 - Categories:French companies, lithium batteries
A presentation of Socomec
An interview with Gilles Ramzeyer, Director of Socomec's storage unit,
Socomec is a specialist in energy storage and power supply
The market demand has long been for remote microgrids. Containerised solutions
were delivered worldwide. Five years ago, the market shifted to grid storage, especially in the US, where it was a very lucrative investment. Today, the most anticipated application is power resilience: customers want backup power when the grid goes down. They also want energy storage on the grid for cost-effectiveness reasons. A new interest in batteries is emerging with the decarbonisation of uses.
In storage, all the value streams need to be captured, such as demand load management, time of use management, capacity resource payments, tax credits and state incentives, etc. To this will be added the charging of electric vehicles
Socomec has focused on three main applications
Locating energy storage and photovoltaic production in the same place The development of photovoltaic production creates new constraints on the network. Storage must maximise self-consumption or smooth the injection of electricity into the grid.
Demand load management: in general, production is not synchronised with the demand for electricity. Storage mitigates this imbalance by limiting the demand for electricity when the grid is under severe stress. Some countries have already introduced financial incentives to reduce demand during certain time slots
Resilience: power cuts create economic losses and dangers for the population
The products
Socomec's offer is based on 50 kVA power modules (called C-Cab) and a 186 kWh battery (B-Cab). Both are flexible.
Whereas Socomec used to use containers, now the use of cabinets allows the majority of the modules to be assembled in the factory. This allows for faster installation at the customer's site. The battery cabinets are delivered fully assembled. The battery modules are already in their racks and all the wiring inside is already in place. The cabinet system allows for flexibility as there is a wide variety of projects and system sizes. The cabinet integrates not only the converter but also all the control devices, communication, IoT for remote access as well as protection devices. Each power module is 50 kVA. The cabinet can hold six modules. Socomec can parallel several cabinets.
The North American market is the most dynamic market in the world today. Socomec products are designed to meet the latest American standards. They are also available in IEC configuration for Europe and the rest of the world.
PV Magazine of 2 December 2021
