Radius Elnet, Denmark

In a world where climate change has become one of the biggest concerns, the Danish capital, Copenhagen, has set itself an ambitious goal - to be the world’s first carbon neutral city by 2025. In order to achieve this, daring innovations are being implemented into its energy system.

One of these is innovations is the Energy Lab Nordhavn project that has transformed a part of the new residential area Nordhavn, into a “full scale living lab”. The project, funded by The Danish Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Program, aims to develop and demonstrate the energy solutions of the future – integrating electricity and heating, energy-efficient buildings and electric-powered transport into an intelligent, flexible and optimized energy system.

A significant part of the project is Hitachi Energy's battery energy storage system supplied to Radius, Denmark’s largest power distribution company. Installed in an urban environment, it is able to supply power to approximately 200 apartments at the time of the day where the demand for power is at its highest. This technology first of its kind in Denmark.

The battery storage solution will account for a significant part of the energy system, in which solar and wind energy will provide the majority of electricity production. Since renewable energy production is less predictable, the storage system will be a key element of energy supply. The modular energy storage system is comprised of Li-ion batteries and Hitachi Energy's intelligent energy storage inverter. The system improves the power quality of the electrical network by  performing the functions of peak load shaving and frequency response.  In some markets, the first can save penalty for the consumer by reducing their peak load demand and helps utilities as they see more uniform load distribution through the day. The second is a mechanism used by the National Grid to help manage grid stability which improves productivity of connected loads and grid reliability.

When it comes to climate change, the city of Copenhagen is setting the best possible example for other cities to follow and Hitachi Energy continues to enable  stronger, smarter and greener grids.