Aggreko and Younicos Launch Microgrids-as-a-Service Rental Solution
Battery storage integrator Younicos, together with its parent company Aggreko, leading global provider of modular, mobile power, are launching a new microgrids-as-a-service offer. The new modular and mobile approach combines low-cost renewables – in particular solar – with thermal generation and battery storage in one single contract with flexible conditions.
An initial project, a copper and zinc mine in Eritrea, is now being equipped with a PV-plus-diesel hybrid system. This combination is designed to reduce fuel costs by more than 10 percent, thanks to a power purchase agreement for the solar energy, with no upfront costs to the customer. Under the 10-year rental agreement, the mine will be powered by a 22-MW diesel plant and a 7.5-MW solar power resource.
“Microgrids-as-a-service is a win-win proposition,” said Karim Wazni, managing director of Aggreko. “With this new offering, we enable our customers to reduce their electricity costs through the use of cheaper solar energy, without any compromise to their power reliability or security of supply. Integrating grid-forming battery systems allow as much solar as is economically optimal to be deployed, without any technical limitations. What’s more it also cuts fuel requirements by significantly improving thermal generation efficiency and replacing the need for backup. This lower costs while reducing the impact on the environment by cutting emissions significantly.
“We already offer plug-and-play battery solutions for rental periods of only a few months. Integrating storage capability with Aggreko’s existing hybrid solar-diesel offering doesn’t just combine two types of savings – it allows us to really leverage the different technologies, with each component being used more efficiently while increasing overall resilience.”
Integrated microgrid solutions will be available with rental durations as short as five years, enabling customers to test new technology and quickly adapt to a fast-evolving market, without the need for lengthy commitments. This modular offer is also flexible, and can be combined with other types of renewable generation such as wind.
“This unique, mobile and modular pay-as-you-go solution is a perfect example of the strengths of Aggreko and Younicos reinforcing each other,” added Dan Ibbetson, managing director of Aggreko’s global solutions unit. “Aggreko’s proven ability to successfully deploy generation systems and other energy equipment globally is being combined with the Younicos team’s superior smart energy management software and experiencing to seamlessly integrate renewables with thermal generation and battery storage. We’re building a robust pipeline of hybrid projects as we work with customers to reduce power costs and environmental footprint, while ensuring energy security and stability of supply to meet long-term commercial objectives.”
About the Author
Michael Roth
Editor
Michael Roth has covered the equipment rental industry full time for RER since 1989 and has served as the magazine’s editor in chief since 1994. He has nearly 30 years experience as a professional journalist. Roth has visited hundreds of rental centers and industry manufacturers, written hundreds of feature stories for RER and thousands of news stories for the magazine and its electronic newsletter RER Reports. Roth has interviewed leading executives for most of the industry’s largest rental companies and manufacturers as well as hundreds of smaller independent companies. He has visited with and reported on rental companies and manufacturers in Europe, Central America and Asia as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States. Roth was co-founder of RER Reports, the industry’s first weekly newsletter, which began as a fax newsletter in 1996, and later became an online newsletter. Roth has spoken at conventions sponsored by the American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, California Rental Association and other industry events and has spoken before industry groups in several countries. He lives and works in Los Angeles when he’s not traveling to cover industry events.