Schoonschip | Efficient energy storage systems for waterfront homes Schoonschip

There will be no gas connection in project Schoonschip. The new, floating residential neighborhood in Amsterdam-North will operate all-electric upon completion. Five hundred photovoltaic solar panels will provide sustainable energy generation. Via a smart grid, the energy obtained will be distributed among the homes as needed, with consumption tracked for each home. Each waterfront home will be equipped with a large battery, in which temporary surpluses can be stored. On behalf of SpectralUtilities, market leader in energy storage Top Systems B.V. is supplying the lithium battery systems for the water homes, including the safety devices, energy converters and control systems.

"In the preparation phase, we calculated the battery capacity per waterhome," says Norman Heins, Sales and Project Engineer at Top Systems B.V.. "In total, we delivered 30 battery systems of 7.5 kWh per waterhome. Chosen were lithium systems, which are characterized by long service life, favorable TCO and very high efficiency (95-99%), which is highly desirable for solar energy systems." The battery systems can completely charge or discharge in as little as two hours, he says. "A godsend when multiple consumers are on at the same time and thus demand a lot of power from the battery."

Commissioned by SpectralUtilities, market leader in energy storage, Top Systems B.V., is supplying the lithium battery systems for the water homes, including the safeguards, energy converters and control systems.

Inverters
Connected to the battery systems are energy inverters from Victron; a Dutch manufacturer of battery chargers, inverters and accessories. "The 5,000 VA inverters are bidirectional, which means they can both charge, convert and feed back to the grid voltage," Heins says. "From the battery pack, the inverters convert the energy generated by the solar panels to 230 volts AC, for use in the homes. If desired, the inverters also supply power from the battery pack back to the smart grid, for use in the other waterfront homes. Because the water dwellings can share energy among themselves, a small shore power connection is already sufficient for this project."

Operating System
The control system also comes from Victron. "In this project we chose Victron Venus, which collects information from the battery pack and inverters as well as the solar panels. A link to the Internet enables intuitive control and monitoring (also remotely)," said Heins. "To provide even better interpretation of this, Victron Venus is linked to SpectralUtilities' software."

The final energy storage systems for Schoonschip will be delivered in July.