A New Energy Storage Solution Debuts in the Railway Sector

Battery technologies are all the craze these days as everyone is racing to find the perfect solution to energy storage for the growing share of solar and wind power in the grid.

But energy storage solutions are also making forays into the railways industry where batteries can help stabilize the railway electricity grid.

One new battery storage solution, developed by Italy-based power group Enel, will be tested and installed on the network of the Russian Railways.

“This is the first time this type of battery technology is used in the railway sector,” Enel, which has a very strong international renewables business, said upon announcing that it would test the “first-of-its-kind innovative storage system on Russia’s railway network.”

Enel and Russian Railways will team up to develop the energy storage solution in the hopes that it could help stabilize the Russian railway electricity grid, improve train operations, and avoid expensive grid upgrades that might otherwise be required.

While Enel was scarce on details in the announcement, CleanTechnica obtained more information from the Italian company about what this “first-of-its-kind” innovative storage system is.

The batteries will be lithium, with a minimum capacity of 10 MWh, Enel told CleanTechnica.  At times of peak demand, the batteries can be automatically activated through an Enel in-house software to help respond to the growing energy demand of the railways system.  Once installed on certain railway sections, the batteries could help make the train service faster, Enel says.

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