Alight and Tekniska verken build Sweden’s largest co-located solar-plus-storage plant

Alight’s 12 MW solar park in Linköping is one of the largest solar parks in Sweden and was commissioned in 2020. By adding battery storage to the facility, the installation will be the largest co-located solar-plus-storage plant in Sweden. The battery storage will be operational in December 2022.

Alight has developed, owns and manages the solar park. Tekniska verken is part owner of the solar park and the battery, as well as grid owner and land owner. Infranode is the primary financier of both the battery and the solar park. Varberg Energi has been an advisor to Alight in the battery project and Soltech is installing the storage solution on location.

As renewable power sources are becoming a larger part of Sweden’s power mix, and the electrification of all sectors is growing rapidly, it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain balance in the Swedish power grid, especially with intermittent power generation. Energy storage systems such as batteries are a source of flexibility that can contribute to grid balancing and become a key enabler of GW-scale deployment of renewable energy in the grid. 

The battery will contribute to balancing the national electricity grid through frequency regulation, ancillary services, and optimization of solar energy production – when needed by the grid owners and operators. Battery storage can provide energy when the solar energy system is not producing, for example at night, or during outages or power failures.

“We are very proud to establish the largest solar-plus-storage plant in Sweden to show how subsidy-free solar and storage is unlocking major opportunities. By adding storage solutions to our solar parks, we revolutionise the way we produce renewable electricity, making it a force of predictability and grid stability. As solar-plus-storage increasingly becomes a standard, everybody wins”, says Harald Överholm, CEO of Alight.

“Tekniska Verken’s vision is to build the world’s most resource-efficient region. This requires innovative technological solutions to replace fossil fuels. It is therefore gratifying that we can take another step in the right direction by working with Alight to bring new innovation in the form of energy storage to a utility-scale solar park. The aim is to contribute to much-needed regulation in Svenska Kraftnät’s frequency and balance markets in order to further stabilise today’s electricity system, while we believe it can be a good deal for us,” says Fredrik Remneblad, Tekniska verken’s Business Unit Manager for Solar, Wind and Hydropower.

“Solar-plus-storage can compensate for the imbalances in the electricity system and offer a quick and scalable solution to avoid expensive and slow grid improvements. Strengthening the electricity grid is important but takes a long time, while solar and batteries are growing rapidly and can therefore be an important, complementary part of the solution,” says Anna Werner, CEO of Svensk Solenergi (Swedish solar association).