BASF Schwarzheide, a leading manufacturing site in Lusatia, Germany, has taken a significant step towards increasing its energy efficiency and sustainability by installing a cutting-edge 1MW 5.8MWh sodium-sulphur battery. This innovative move aims to maximize the utilization of energy generated from the solar park located on the premises, where the company specializes in producing materials for electric vehicle batteries.
The Vice President of Battery Metals at BASF, Daniel Schönfelder, emphasized the importance of this stationary energy storage system in advancing the sustainability of battery production for electric vehicles. He stated, "It means that we can use renewable energies almost around the clock, for instance for our manufacturing of cathode materials or for the production of black mass in the recycling of old batteries for electric vehicles in Schwarzheide."
With an expected lifespan of 20 years or 7,300 cycles, the sodium-sulphur batteries utilized in this project are supplied by NGK Insulators and distributed by BASF Stationary Energy Storage, a subsidiary of BASF. This high-temperature technology requires the cells to operate within a temperature range of 300 to 340°C, ensuring optimal performance and efficiency.
The design of the batteries is tailored for practicality and efficiency, with each unit modeled after a standard 20ft shipping container. For the installation at BASF Schwarzheide, a total of four containers were required to accommodate the energy storage capacity needed to support the manufacturing processes on-site.
Operating seamlessly within ambient temperatures ranging from -20 to +45°C (with an optional extended range of -40 to +55°C), the system is equipped with air conditioning for the control electronics container and up to 33kW of auxiliary heating for each battery container. Inside the batteries, the NGK cells are compact, measuring 90mm in diameter and 500mm in length, with a nominal cell voltage of 2V and impressive energy densities of 367Wh/litre, 222Wh/kg, and 36W/kg.