Interest Grows in Germany
The German grid is undergoing dramatic changes caused by the shutdown of its nuclear plants and its fast-rising reliance on wind and solar power. The Neckar-Alb Region in the German state of Baden-Württemberg is considering GPM technology in lieu of one or more of the five proposed conventional PSH plant designs (each over 300 MW) that would provide backup to its renewable energy assets.
As expected, these large PSH plants are running into severe public opposition and zoning issues, making it impossible for Baden-Württemberg to proceed with its Regional Plan. Regionalverband, the local planning authority, has included the GPM as a cost-effective alternative to classical PSH in its revised resource plan, which was approved and published in April 2013. The Regional Plan provides the legal framework that qualifies technology selections in this region of Germany. This is the first time that a new storage technology has been included in its regional grid planning. The Neckar-Alb Regionalverband also is investigating two sites for a 300-MW GPM, and GPM is being seriously considered as a less-invasive replacement for a proposed 700-MW conventional PSH project in Bavaria. Clearly, the market for bulk energy storage is booming in Germany.
Although there is considerable interest in large-scale bulk energy storage in Germany, barriers remain. For example, the existing German feed-in tariffs do not include energy storage. These issues may be resolved after the fall elections, when the newly elected German Bundestag considers legislation for federal and state support of bulk energy storage technologies.