An electric future and its effects have been investigated in the project Grid Connected Flow Batteries (GCFB), a collaboration between Aarhus University, Dansk Energi, Norlys, and VisBlue.

The purpose of the project has been to investigate the problems, and cause of these problems, of a rise in the electrification of society, as well as the investigation of how batteries can alleviate these complications. After three years, the project has now come to an end.

A more electrified society

Every day, our society is becoming more and more electrical. We are experiencing challenges that we did not see years back.

More electrical appliances are finding their way into private homes and private households are also becoming more aware of the need to shift into more sustainable ways of consuming via solar panels, electrical vehicles, and heat pumps.

A need to change existing energy infrastructure to be able to handle a more electrified society is vital, as new technology and more electrical goods are threatening our security of energy supply. A complete transition and replacement of the current public distribution grid is an expensive way to accommodate the energy infrastructure that we need tomorrow and currently, the energy infrastructure in Denmark is reinforced by installing new transformer stations or implementing entirely new cables.
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However, the implementation of energy storage is a simpler, cheaper, effective, and less invasive way to lessen the dilemmas that come with an electrified world and improve our energy infrastructure.

Grid Connected Flow Batteries (GCFB)

An electric future and its effects have been investigated in the EUDP project Grid Connected Flow Batteries (GCFB), a collaboration between Dansk Energi, Norlys, and VisBlue.

The purpose of the project has been to investigate the problems, and cause of these problems, of a rise in the electrification of society, as well as the investigation of how batteries can alleviate these complications. After three years, the project has now come to an end.

Imbalances and reinforcement

During the GCFB project focus has been on solving the disturbances that solar panels, electrical vehicles, heat pumps, and electrical appliances cause on a residential road level (low voltage grid).
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Imbalances occur when residents on a normal residential road implement more electrical appliances.
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Currently, if the households on a residential road experience and phase imbalances, a reinforcement of the current distribution grid will be made in the form of new cables or an upgraded transformer station.
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The GCFB project has researched batteries as both a financial and technical alternative to this.

Flow batteries to the rescue

VisBlue’s flow battery has been tested in a simulated environment corresponding to a residential road and connected to the distribution grid.

Conclusions of the GCFB project is that storage, in this case specifically VisBlue’s flow battery, can relieve the effects of a more electrified society. More precisely, this is possible by adding the battery as an energy buffer in the grid and by charging and discharging individually on the three phases.

Read more about the GCFB project here

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