GE has launched the GE Reservoir, a comprehensive energy storage platform that delivers a suite of customised storage solutions to help customers address new challenges and seek new opportunities in a rapidly transforming power grid that is becoming more highly diversified and distributed.

GE’s Reservoir platform, developed with innovative technology from GE’s Global Research Center, is a flexible, compact energy storage solution for AC or DC coupled systems. The reservoir solution combines GE’s advanced technologies and expertise in plant controls, power electronics, battery management systems and electrical balance of plant – all backed by GE’s performance guarantees.

The reservoir is an ideal fit for the Middle East and North Africa (Mena), where renewable energy, especially solar power, is becoming an increasingly significant part of the energy mix. The reservoir expands GE’s 10-year footprint in the energy storage space and builds upon recent successes and milestones, said a statement.

GE is presenting The Reservoir solution at the ongoing Smart Grid and Energy Storage conference organised by the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) in collaboration with EDF during today (March 21) and tomorrow (March 22), in Dubai, UAE, it said.

The reservoir already has a 20 megawatts (MW), 80 megawatt hours (MWh) pre-launch commitment. Last year, GE introduced the world’s first hybrid-electric gas turbine to multiple accolades across the industry, it added.

GE was the first-to-market with advanced applications for hybrid electric-gas turbines, wind hybrids and “Black Start” capabilities. Recently, GE also announced a new project with the Arenko Group to build one of the world’s largest energy storage systems in the UK.

Russell Stokes, president and CEO, GE Power, said: “The energy landscape is undergoing an unprecedented paradigm shift, as the growth of renewables, decentralisation of power and digitization create both new challenges and opportunities in how power is generated, transmitted and distributed.”

“GE’s Reservoir delivers the new type of energy system that customers are looking for to help manage electricity’s next chapter,” he said.

Eric Gebhardt, vice president and strategic technology officer of GE Power, said: “GE’s Reservoir platform enables cost-effective distribution, storage, and utilisation of cleaner, more reliable power where and when it is needed most.”

“It can fit into most any setting, from centralised grid systems to the most remote villages and communities. The reservoir also allows energy providers new degrees of flexibility for more intelligently managing and getting the most out of all their power assets,” he added.

The 1.2 MW, 4 MWh Reservoir Storage Unit, is the fundamental building block of GE’s Reservoir platform. It is a modular solution that integrates GE’s Battery Blade design (module stack design) with key technologies from across the company’s portfolio to achieve an industry-leading energy density, footprint and lifetime performance.

GE’s proprietary Blade Protection Unit (BPU) actively balances the safety, life, and production of each battery Blade, extending battery life by up to 15% and reducing fault currents by up to 5X.

GE’s Reservoir platform leverages Predix and Edge controls technologies to provide data-driven insights that help energy operators enhance their systems. These digital technologies leverage GE’s unique and unparalleled technical and industry domain knowledge across the entire energy ecosystem from generation to consumption.

Put together, GE’s Reservoir delivers the most comprehensive energy storage platform to help meet the energy industry’s rapidly changing needs. The ability to offer highly customised solutions through the platform offers customers unprecedented levels of flexibility, resilience and operational efficiency in hybrid generation, grid operation and energy management.

GE’s Reservoir also enables other diverse applications that include: Managing higher levels of renewable power, grid stabilisation, peak demand management and controlling energy flow. By enabling better asset utilisation and overall system management, customers can realise new revenue opportunities and cost savings as well.

The reservoir is a strategic complement to the long-term energy diversification and security goals of the Mena. With the UAE looking to generate 44 per cent of its power from clean energy by 2050, Kuwait setting goals to increase the share of renewable generation to 15 per cent by 2030, Egypt intending to supply 20 per cent of its generated electricity from renewable sources by 2022, and other countries in the region turning towards a rising share of renewable energy in the overall generation mix, the region needs solutions to support a more diversified and distributed power grid, it stated. – TradeArabia News Service