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    Big Battery vs. the Big Chill: Saft deploying 7-MWh Energy Storage to Svalbard Archipelago

    March 11, 2022
    The Saft BESS will be located near the town’s coal-fired power station and provide reserve capacity as well as backup power for black start capability. The Longyearbyen coal-fired plant is due to be closed next year
    Image credit Bjoertvedt-- Wikipedia Creative Commons
    800px Longyearbyen Kulturhuset Img 2594 622bb351e68d8

    French utility-scale battery system developer Saft has won a contract to deliver a 6-MW/7-MWh lithium-ion project on the northernmost settlement of the Norwegian Svalbard island group.

    Saft will provide power conversion and control technologies as part of its turnkey contact to deploy the battery energy storage system in Longyearbyen. Completion is expected late this year.

    The Saft BESS will be located near the town’s coal-fired power station and provide reserve capacity as well as backup power for black start capability. The Longyearbyen coal-fired plant is due to be closed next year, according to reports.

    At that point, the Saft BESS will also provide voltage and frequency control to integrate both diesel generators and growing capacity of renewables.

    “One aspect we particularly liked about Saft is its experience and proven high reliability with similar systems for remote communities in northern Canada and Alaska,” Joachim Karlsen, manager of the project for the Longyearbyen town council. “That has given us extra reassurance that their team has what it takes to deliver this complex project in harsh Arctic conditions and that their technology will provide us with reliability and security of supply.”

    Longyearbyen leaders want to transition the remote area to zero emissions. However, the community is located in the high Arctic at 78 degrees North latitude (the North Pole is at 90 degree N), with winter temperatures close to minus 40 degree Celsius (also -40* Fahrenheit).

    About the Author

    Rod Walton, EnergyTech Managing Editor | Senior Editor

    For EnergyTech editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].

    Rod Walton has spent 15 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. He formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    Walton earned his Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. His career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

    He was named Managing Editor for Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech starting July 1, 2023

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.

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