The Upside Group is putting another large energy storage facility into operation and thus expanding its battery portfolio to 55 MW The lead-carbon storage facility has a capacity of 25 MWh making it one of the largest systems in Europe and October 29th  the battery storage was officially put into operation by the management of the Upside Group from Dülmen/Germany and the network region manager of MITNETZ STROM "The aim of this large storage facility is to stabilise the frequency in the power grid and thus the creation of a basic prerequisite for reliable energy supply Due to the growing importance of electromobility and the decision to phase out nuclear power and coal rapidly this task is becoming increasingly important Our systems are already now in operation day and night and support the European grid frequency several hundred thousand times a year," stresses Marc Reimer Since a constant frequency holding is not possible due to volatile generation and consumption external readjustment is constantly necessary Batteries can do this much better than other technologies In addition to unbeatably fast response times of only milliseconds it is also much easier for the battery to provide control power because there is no need to generate electricity first but excess electricity is stored temporarily if the frequency is too high The battery is always half fully charged and reacts in the required direction - fully automatically Extremely powerful inverters from the Kassel-based world market leader SMA are responsible for the necessary conversion of alternating current from the grid into storable direct current The Upside battery storage system consists of 18 40-foot high-cube containers from joint venture partner Narada Inc. which are filled to the roof with battery cells The total of 10,584 batteries with an individual weight of 90 kg have a storage capacity of 25 MWh "This could supply all households in the Groitzsch community with electricity for 8 days and thus survive any calm wind - a first step towards realising the vision of an energy self-sufficient supply with self-generated electricity" The Groitzsch battery storage avoids about 66,000 t CO2 per year This avoidance performance corresponds to that which would be achieved if 50,000 cars were converted to electric drive Through his three battery projects in the Leipzig area alone the investor Upside has mathematically converted more than half of the cars in the Saxon state capital to electric drive Upside developed and implemented the Groitzsch project in the 20 kV network of the probably most innovative German distribution network operator MITNETZ The open space created by the dismantling of an old switchgear house on the transformer station site was used to install the battery storage in the immediate vicinity and to integrate it into the medium voltage of the transformer station virtually at the heart of the distribution network enables not only integration into the control power network but also the immediate provision of further network services the Groitzsch battery storage facility contributes to grid relief in the entire region After two large storage projects in Brandenburg the project in Groitzsch is identical in construction to the battery storage facilities commissioned by Upside last year in Langenreichenbach and Bennewitz The building permit for a further 16 MW lead-carbon storage facility in the Leipzig area was granted last week Looking to stay on top of all relevant industry and business news? Click here to subscribe to our free twice-weekly pv Europe newsletter. A podcast for investors on the opportunities and risks of the solar market The pv Europe editorial team offers their own analysis and discusses current topics with experts.