Celsia prepares first battery system connected to a solar farm

This Celsia press release was translated from Spanish by an automated system.

In the coming weeks, the first solar energy storage system in Colombia with lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries will come into operation, marking a milestone in the energy transition process promoted by Celsia. Clean and renewable energy will now be available at night, when plants of this type cannot generate energy due to the lack of sunlight.

This system, with a capacity of 2 MWh, will operate at the Celsia Solar Palmira 2 farm, becoming the first non-conventional renewable energy project in the country equipped with storage, which accumulates surplus energy to deliver it to the end user of the farm or to the National Interconnected System, SIN, during the night hours.

“This is a dream come true: Celsia’s innovation and business teams have been experimenting with different technologies for years to make storage systems a reality, as with them we overcome the problem of intermittent solar power plants. Now we can double the generation capacity of the photovoltaic plants that we already have in operation, and those that are coming. This combination of solar panels and batteries can supply up to 50% of energy in some companies. This innovation allows us to continue advancing in diversifying our energy matrix, which requires reducing dependence on hydroelectric generation, which is so dependent on climatic phenomena such as El Niño, and to continue innovating for our clients ,” explained Ricardo Sierra, leader of Celsia.

Benefits of battery storage

• This type of storage system could multiply the energy supply without having to build new networks.
• Batteries allow for the installation of larger capacities of solar farms and the storage of part of the energy so as not to saturate the grid during the day and then inject it into the system or to customers at night.
• Optimizes self-consumption and reduces dependence on the grid, generating long-term savings.
• Makes solar energy more manageable by improving flexibility, quality and control.
• It allows the generation curve to be shifted to nighttime hours, where there is greater generation from fossil fuel plants, allowing greater generation from non-conventional renewable energy projects.
• It can act as a backup during power outages on the network, ensuring service for a period of time.
• It can offer complementary services to the network to contribute to frequency and voltage stabilization.
• These systems can be installed in similar time frames as solar energy projects.

What is the energy storage system like?

This storage system, based on BESS (Battery Energy Storage System) technology, is housed in a 20-foot-wide container weighing 28 tons, where each container houses more than 120 battery packs . This is an autonomous system and has a control manager that operates automatically, monitoring systems to ensure the operational safety of the equipment and mitigation for any type of emergency.

The batteries are lithium iron phosphate (LFP) and, depending on their use, could have a useful life of 15 to 20 years. In Colombia, innovative solutions are already being developed for their reuse and recycling when their useful life ends.

About Celsia Solar Palmira 2

• Capacity: 9.9 MW
• Total number of solar panels: 610
• Battery storage system capacity: 1 MW/2 MWh with AC coupling.
• It has a ceiling-type mounting of the modules or panels, which allows increasing the DC power by 5% compared to the conventional location.
• This is Celsia's 20th solar farm in Colombia.
• With this farm, the company reaches 352 MWp of solar energy capacity.