Munich, June 22, 2016 /PRNewswire/ – AEG Power Solutions, a global provider of power electronic systems and solutions for industrial power supplies and renewable energy applications, has announced it has developed a unique Hybrid Energy Storage System, which combines standard battery storage with power-to-heat technology to reduce the total cost of energy storage operation.

The solution can be installed in any type of facility, which uses thermal processes, including local heat networks in combination with an electrical distribution network.

With this Hybrid Energy Storage solution, the power conversion system (PCS) becomes the central key element operating the power management and controls both the battery as well as the heating system. The PCS and all equipment required for grid connection (e.g., transformer and switch gear) therefore are used for both the batteries and the heater. The platform allows for all typical applications of standard battery energy storage in particular, frequency regulation; by combining both systems, the capacity of the thermal storage adds up to the battery storage capacity.

“Technically, in a stand-alone battery energy storage system,” explains Andreas Becker, Product Manager at AEG Power Solutions, “it’s necessary to keep a battery charge stable at the 50% level in order to provide grid frequency regulation. By combining it with a power to heat system, we allow extra energy to go to the thermal process. The battery can then operate at 100% capacity.”

This in fact leads to dividing the battery total capacity required by almost two. Taking into account that they represent usually around 70% of an energy storage installation, the economic benefit of the innovation is obvious and the payback period of the investment is approximately 3 years faster in a primary control power market.

AEG Power Solutions engineers the complete solution and provides the key components such as the power conversion hardware and the power management software. The company is an innovator in energy storage and management thanks to its many decades of experience in the world of UPS, power electronics, batteries as well as international grid connection compliance. This unique combination of know-how has been leveraged to design products and solutions for energy storage.