Northvolt, Vestas to partner on wind-storage integration

Dive Brief:

Danish wind turbine developer Vestas will invest approximately $11.8 million in a partnership with battery maker Northvolt, working to integrate energy storage into wind turbine design to create more predictable output.
The two companies have announced a technology collaboration on the development of a lithium-ion battery platform for Vestas' wind turbines.
Over seven years, Vestas and Northvolt will each contribute to the joint development project through dedicated staff, project resources and shared development efforts. Vestas' funding will go towards joint research and development, and product development.

Dive Insight:

Vestas and Northvolt will also establish a demonstration line and research facility, Northvolt Labs, which they say will be used to test and qualify products and processes.

Vestas Chief Technology Officer Anders Vedel said the collaboration will help the company "define, challenge and improve battery storage offering for customers that need hybrid and storage solutions. ... There is a strong shared purpose and strategic fit with Northvolt."

The collaboration will also work to develop data management systems, ultimately using them to optimize storage systems and provide more certainty and predictability in power output. The companies explained that Northvolt will become a part of Vestas’ hybrid supplier ecosystem.

"Northvolt, with the support of Vestas, is looking to better understand the needs of the renewable energy sector in order to develop batteries for solution providers and OEMs," the companies said. "Northvolt is building a next generation battery factory with the aim to produce the world’s greenest batteries to enable and accelerate the transition to renewable energy."

Wind and storage integration is gaining traction with Vestas' most recent announcement. In September, Tesla and Vestas announced a partnership to combine wind turbine and storage technologies. And in August, offshore wind developer Deepwater Wind paired with Tesla to develop a 144 MW offshore wind farm with a 40 MWh battery storage system. The project responds to a solicitation from Massachusetts utilitis and government to obtain 9,450,000 MWh of clean energy.