VDL Groep and Scholt Energy Control stake cards on energy storage with start of new company V-Storage

VDL Enabling Transport Solutions (VDL ETS) and Scholt Energy Services, the innovation branches of both companies, have plans that include the reuse of old batteries from buses to form large battery systems for energy storage. By strategically charging these batteries – when lots of electricity is generated by solar panels and wind turbines on sunny, windy days, for example – optimal benefit can be derived from the volatility of the energy market. This is achieved by storing inexpensive surplus power for times when less is available and thus electricity is more expensive. The electricity stored at favourable times will then be used to recharge electric buses and will also serve as reserve capacity to accommodate peaks in power demand.

Used in this way the battery will assist in maintaining the balance in the Netherlands’ high voltage grid. After all, the strong growth of renewable energy is making the availability of electricity more unpredictable. Fluctuations in production, particularly of wind and solar energy, are making it increasingly difficult to maintain balance on the net. Batteries will therefore play an important role, because they can serve as a buffer that provides extra required power during periods of peak demand. Moreover, surplus renewable electricity can be stored in a battery. A strategy of storing surpluses of renewable energy in batteries can eliminate the need for costly expansion of the Netherlands’ power grid.

By making the storage capacity of the battery available to rural electricity networks, traditional, polluting power stations – which boost their output when demand for power rises – will eventually become redundant. In this way the batteries also contribute to increasing the sustainability of the energy we consume.

First battery from V-Storage

The first battery from V-Storage will be placed on the grounds of VDL ETG in Eindhoven this year. VDL Groep and Scholt Energy Control then expect to quickly expand the number of batteries and their applications. Over the next few years electric transport (e-mobility) is set to really take off in Netherlands. In the Eindhoven region alone, all public transport buses must be powered by electricity in 2020. V-Storage can therefore make a major contribution to the use of energy storage for electric transport in the Netherlands.

Scholt Energy Control

Scholt Energy Control is active as a supplier of electricity and gas to the business market in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. The company headquarters are located in Valkenswaard (NL). They also have offices in Nazareth (BE) and Düsseldorf (DE). With their personal, clear, independent approach, SEC have rapidly established a position for themselves in the international energy market. With Scholt Energy Services, SEC focuses on innovations in the sustainable energy market.