Siemens Energy grid stabilising tech to allow more wind in Ireland

Siemens Energy AG (ETR:ENR) will provide a synchronous condenser to help stabilise the Irish grid and allow greater penetration of wind power, the German company said this week.

The grid stabilising system will be delivered to Irish utility Electricity Supply Board (ESB) for deployment at its Moneypoint power station near Kilrush, County Clare. ESB recently announced plans to transform the Moneypoint into a green energy hub, including a 1.4-GW floating offshore wind farm.

The EUR-50-million (USD 60m) Sustainable System Support facility, the synchronous compensator, is part of this transformation. It will feature the world's largest flywheel used for grid stability and is expected to be commissioned in the middle of 2022.

The facility will provide inertia for frequency support, short-circuit power for system strength and reactive power for voltage control. It will lead to a reduced dispatch of fossil fuel plant under constraints and lower costs of transmission operations.

"Due to the intermittency of wind energy in particular, grid stabilization technologies have an increasingly important role in a successful energy transition," said Paul Smith, head of asset development at ESB Generation and Trading.

Siemens Energy will provide engineering, procurement and construction, as well as preventive maintenance for 10 years with remote diagnostics.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.201)

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