Mercedes-Benz Energy transforms coal power plant into energy storage facility

The Daimler company has decided to follow in the footsteps of Tesla by enhancing its know-how in the field of electric batteries. Through its subsidiary Mercedes-Benz Energy, Daimler is taking the step of converting a coal-fired power plant into a large energy storage facility to enable balancing of the German electricity grid. To do this, the company is using 1,920 modules of its electric car batteries which are capable of storing energy up to 9.8 MWh. The plant is located on the site of a former German coal-fired power plant called Werdohl-Elverlingsen, which was constructed in 1912. The energy generated by the plant will be used primarily to help balance the German grid. This will help the city in managing the intermittency of energy produced from renewable resources that have increased significantly in recent years in Germany. This project is the result of the collaboration between Mercedes-Benz Energy and The Mobility House, a Munich-based company that specializes in charging electric cars and using the car battery as energy storage of the future. This is the latest in a series of large stationary storage projects with the company having previously completed similar projects such as one completed near Hanover last year. The Hanover project was a very similar but larger installation with the plant located near the district of Hanover having a storage capacity of up to 17.4 MWh.