First energy storage facility for railways in Poland
PKP Energetyka, the energy supplier for the Polish railway network, is constructing the first storage facility in the country dedicated to the rail sector. It will be located in the vicinity of Wrocław. This facility will be used for storing the conventional energy and, afterwards, for energy generated from other sources.
The new facility will have a capacity for storage of 5 megawatts of power. PKP Energetyka plans to start its operation this year. “In July we intend to launch the first energy storage facility in Grapce, at our substation near Wrocław,” CEO of PKP Energetyka Leszek Hołda said to RailTech. According to him, the lithium-ion batteries will use for the installation. Initially, the Grapce facility will be used for storing the conventional energy in order to balance the requested power in the peak (when the trains are running) and non-peak periods.
Future plans
For the future, PKP Energetyka intends to use the new installation for storing other types of energy including the renewable ones. “This facility is dedicated to storing conventional energy. It is the first step. In the future, we can connect to it a photovoltaic farm and potentially we can also try to use it for collecting energy from the recuperation process,” Mr Hołda specified. It is worth to add that Poland plans to increase the share of renewable sources in generating energy for the rail sector up to 85 per cent by 2030.
