Taipower continues to promote smart grids, and selects Kinmen as the "smart low-carbon demonstration island." In addition to building smart power plants and installing smart meters as well as island-wide fiber optic cables, it also partnered with Delta Electronics to set up Taiwan’s largest and first grid-connected 2-MW energy storage system that can perform real-time power dispatch. The system began its operation in Kinmen Xiaxing Power Plant today (May 14). With the incorporation of information and communication systems, the smart grid in Kinmen will be revolutionized. Taipower stated that the energy storage system not only can store the abundant green energy in Kinmen, such as solar power and wind power, for future use, it can also help the grid to adjust the system frequency automatically, improving the stability of power supply. If encountering unexpected power failure such as tripped circuit breaker, the system can provide instant power rescue within 0.2 second, which is thousands of times faster comparing with the traditional backup system used in the past.

Taipower explained that Kinmen area is regarded as a small independent power system that is not connected to Taiwan main island's power grid. There are a total of 19 heavy oil and light diesel units in Tashan, Xiaxing, and Kirin Power Plants, with a total installed capacity of 91,000 kW (91 MW). In addition, the installed capacity of solar photovoltaic system exceeds 9 MW, while that of wind power system reaches 4 MW. As a result, the proportion of power generation in a certain period of time can even reach more than 30%. Since the intermittent characteristic of renewable energy have a greater impact on small independent power grid system, Taipower began the plan of installing an “energy storage test system” at Kinmen Xiaxing Power Plant in 2018. It is hoped that by incorporating the energy management system of Tashan Power Plant and integrating the real-time operating data such as the power generation of diesel generators, electricity load, and renewable energy power generation, power dispatch operation can be improved to make power supply more stable.

Taipower stated that in this project, Taipower will work with Delta Electronics, a well-known power management company, to install an energy storage system with a capacity of 2 MW/1 MWh (mega watt hour) at the Kinmen Xiaxing Power Plant. The system has a maximum service power of 2 MW, and a battery capacity of 1 MWh. It consists of a 40-foot domestically made (MIT) lithium battery energy storage container, which contains 462 battery modules to give a total storage capacity of more than 1000 kWh, and a 20-foot container that includes a grid-level power regulation system. After the operation of this energy storage system, the system has officially surpass the 1 MW/1 MWh energy storage system completed in Yongan, Kaohsiung in 2019, and become the largest single system in Taiwan. If supplied by the power of 2 MW, the system can be operated for half an hour, while it can be operated for 1 hour if supplied by the power of 1 MW.

Taipower pointed out that this energy storage system can store electricity generated by renewable energies in Kinmen, such as the solar photovoltaic power and wind power, and supply the electricity during peak hours. In addition, the energy storage system can also relax the fluctuation of electricity generated by renewable energies. For instance, when the sun is sufficient, excess electricity can be saved; on the contrary, when power is demanded, the stored electricity can be sent out to regulate and reduce system fluctuations, maintaining the stability of the grid. This system is also the "first energy storage system in Taiwan that connects to the grid" to enable real-time power dispatch and can "automatically adjust the system frequency" to maintain the system frequency at around 60 Hertz (Hz), improving the stability of power supply. If encountering unexpected power failure such as tripped circuit breaker, the system can provide instant power rescue within 0.2 second, which is thousands of times faster comparing with the traditional backup system (requires 15 to 20 minutes to startup), allowing the system to be quickly stabilized. The energy storage system is now officially connected to the grid in Kinmen to carry out operation test in cooperation with the new unit 9 and unit 10 of Tashan Power Plant.

Bing-Li Zhong, President of Taipower, said that Delta Electronics has invested in smart grids in recent years. In 2017, it assisted in the construction of an energy storage system at the Taiwan Power Research Institute (TPRI), serving as an experimental site. In the promotion of the smart grid demonstration island in Kinmen by Taipower, energy storage plays a very important role. It is hoped that this energy storage system installed in Kinmen can fulfill its objective of stabilizing the power grid. The CEO of Delta Electronics, Ping Zheng, said that Delta Electronics is honored to be involved in Taipower’s construction of Taiwan’s largest energy storage system for the smart grid demonstration island in Kinmen, making a contribution to Taiwan’s energy transformation.

According to Taipower, Kinmen Xiaxing Power Plant plans to build another sodium-sulfur battery energy storage system, which is currently under construction and is expected to be completed by the end of this year. The battery capacity of this system will exceed 10 MWh. The system is consisted of nine 20-foot battery energy storage containers and is expected to set a new record in the future. Once the system is launched, it can work synergistically with the existing systems and compare the different characteristics between various systems, serving as a reference for the planning and construction of the energy storage system in Taiwan main island. As for the Taiwan main island, plans to install energy storage systems in some substations are underway.

Spokesperson：Vice President, Zao-Hua Xu
Tel：(02)2366-6271/0937-730-598
Email：u787200@taipower.com.tw

Contact Person：Director of Electric Power Research Lab of TPRI, Yan-Feng Xu
Tel：(02)8078-2261/0921-912-066
Email：u630501@taipower.com.tw