Nobian's Rotterdam chlorine plant is going to contribute to keeping the power grid in balance. The chlorine plant will have a flexible production capacity, which will be adjusted based on fluctuations in energy availability.
In the Netherlands, we are increasingly using renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind power. However, energy production from both energy sources depends on weather conditions. In practice, this means that there can be considerable fluctuations in the production of renewable energy. For instance, the production of solar energy on a sunny day is greater than on a cloudy day. The same goes for wind energy on a windy and windless day.
Imbalance
Such fluctuations can lead to major problems. Especially since demand also fluctuates widely. For instance, is it windless and warm? Then not only does wind power produce less energy than average, but demand is also higher due to the use of air conditioning, among other things.
Vattenfall is therefore working with Rotterdam chlorine plant Nobian. The company is the first large-scale industrial energy consumer to be added to Vattenfall's flexible capacity. In practice, this means that Nobian adjusts chlorine production if more or less power is suddenly available. This scaling is fully automatic via real-time support from Vattenfall.
The plant will add some 40 MW of flexibility capacity to the power grid. This is equivalent to about a fifth of their chlorine production.
Role of gas power plants declines
Erik Suichies, Director Wholesale at Vattenfall, points to the impact of the declining role of gas-fired power plants. These power plants allow production to be controlled. As we switch more to renewables, this ability is lost and alternative solutions are needed. Suichies explains: "Steerable production, as in gas power plants, is going to lose its basic role more and more. The current power plants will soon not always be needed and will not always run. At the same time, however, the electricity grid must remain balanced 24 hours a day. We need new flexibility that can respond to this. By adding a large off-take customer to our flexible asset pool, we are making a transition: we no longer control only production, but from now on we can accurately adjust demand."
The Dutch power grid is managed by grid operator TenneT. To handle peaks and troughs, TenneT uses so-called regulating power. This is purchased from suppliers such as Vattenfall. Control power consists of a series of production locations, usually gas-fired power plants. These locations can quickly supply more or less power.
Less fossil energy needed for stabilisation
Nobian's chlorine plant will now be added to this control power via Vattenfall's flexible capacity. This means less fossil energy is needed to stabilise the power grid. "Especially if electrification further increases electricity consumption for industrial processes, the fluctuation in electricity production can be met with flexible off-take by large industrial consumers. With sufficient flexibility, costly measures such as imports or controllable power plants can be reduced. In the Netherlands, the potential of industrial demand-side management is around 3.4 GW. Current deployment is between 700 and 1900 MW. The potential capacity of flexible electricity use by industry is promising," explains Maarten Abbenhuis, COO at TenneT.
Other initiatives are also pushing to create more balance between renewable energy supply and demand. For instance, Jedlix and ElaadNL demonstrated to TenneT back in 2017 what role electric vehicle batteries can play in this regard. They can serve as regulating and reserve power. Through Jedlix's smart charging platform, the car charging process was controlled wirelessly based on control signals, such as those from TenneT.
Battolyser Systems
Another example is Battolyser Systems, a spin-off from TU Delft. The company was set up by TU Delft in collaboration with Proton Ventures and Fokko Mulder, professor of chemical sciences at TU Delft. Battolyser Systems' eponymous system stores energy on the one hand, and produces hydrogen from renewable energy sources on the other. To do so, the system uses electrolysis, a process that separates water into oxygen and hydrogen.
Fully charged, a Battolyser functions as an electrolyser. It then produces hydrogen from water and renewable electricity with high efficiency. On the contrary, is there a shortage of energy? Then it releases the stored electricity to the energy grid.
Author: Wouter Hoeffnagel
