EES AWARD 2022: CATL’s EnerOne, STABL Energy and Voltfang win the race
An international panel of experts has judged the nominees for the ees AWARD 2022 and picked out pioneering solutions as worthy winners of the innovation prize for the storage industry. The winners were announced at an international award ceremony at the Internationales Congress Center München (ICM) early this week as part of 'The smarter E Europe 2022'.
Of the ten finalists for the most prestigious award for innovation in the energy storage industry, the EnerOne battery storage system, the STABL SI 100 modular multi-level converter and the Voltfang Industrial commercial storage system made from second-life car batteries were declared as winners for this year.
Batteries and energy storage systems are key components of the future energy world. There is huge potential for optimization, in particular, when it comes to installation, battery sustainability and temperature management. The award honor the innovative products and projects of future-oriented companies that play a key role in the success of the new energy world.
CATL's EnerOne is a battery storage system with liquid cooling for outdoor usage. Based on lithium-iron-phosphate cells, it has a nominal capacity of 372.7 kilowatt hours with a surface area of just 1.69 square meters. The cells with a capacity of 280 ampere hours have a discharge rating of 1C and guaranteed life span of up to 10,000 cycles. The system is suitable for inverters in the range between 600 and 1500 volts.
According to the organizers, the panel of judges was impressed by the highly sophisticated, mature and fully integrated system of EnerOne that opens up the option of installations in regions with extreme climate conditions. They also praised the potential to lower costs through integration into CATL's wider value chain.
STABL SI 100, manufactured by STABL Energy based in Munich, is a modular multi-level converter for battery storage systems replaces standard battery inverters. The usual process of switching to generate alternating voltage for the grid via a separate inverter is no longer relied upon. Instead, the STABL inverter switches battery modules on and off in dynamic succession to increase and decrease the output voltage in a stepped manner, ensuring that all battery modules are charged and discharged evenly.
With lower switching voltages and frequencies, the conversion efficiency is higher than with conventional battery inverters, with a maximum of 99.4 percent being reached. The concept allows for battery modules to be integrated in different states, which is an advantage for second-life applications in particular.
The jury was impressed by STABL SI 100's high conversion efficiency, the possibility of using different battery modules within one system, and the overall pioneering spirit at the heart of this creative technology.
Yet another winner of the award is Voltfang, a start-up founded in Aachen in 2020, which develops stationary battery storage systems using used car batteries. Voltfang Industrial is a commercial storage system based solely on used lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles.
The system is compatible with battery modules of different types, sizes and voltage ranges. The proprietary master battery management system (BMS) can communicate with and continue to use the module BMS. With an output ideal for storage applications to the increase self-consumption of PV plants, peak load reduction is another potential market. Extending the remaining life span of electric vehicle batteries in stationary applications significantly reduces carbon dioxide emissions.
The jury rewarded the strategic concept of Voltfang that covers all relevant stages of the value chain for second-life systems, including a testing procedure for determining battery quality and safety. They were also impressed by the sophisticated technology and the fact that second-life batteries from a range of car manufacturers could be integrated into the system.
