Building Better Battery Storage Solutions

Our growing demand for energy on the go and on demand is made possible with a powerful new generation of batteries. Interconnects play an important role in the development of innovative battery storage solutions.

Battery storage is at the forefront of solutions in the quest to meet the somewhat conflicting demands for more power and less energy consumption, as well as incorporating more sustainable sources of energy. This is happening at multiple levels, from utility scale to building/facility level to residential systems.

“Over the last couple of years, we’ve really gotten engaged in the utility market,” said Joel Boone, product marketing manager North America – field device connectors at Phoenix Contact. One of the main challenges utilities face is providing power to customers when it is most needed, which is not necessarily when it is available.

“That’s the idea behind utility grade storage. We harness the energy from renewable sources, or even from traditional energy sources, but we maximize our ability to manage delivery when the energy is needed, such as at peak times,” Boone said.

To meet today’s energy demands requires innovative storage solutions, like these modules from Phoenix Contact.

Energy storage helps overcome some of the constraints that utilities have traditionally experienced as consumption continues to increase. Utility installations for energy storage are made up of batteries in racks, sometimes in huge containers. The cells are put into modules and ganged together to produce significant power. These modules can be linked in a series or stand alone as a single unit. On the front, each module has connectivity to a management system that goes from module to module.