Hybrid Back-up System in Belgium

The company Ysebaert, one of our distributors in Belgium, recently installed a Hybrid Back-up System at their company. This system supplies them with electricity during power outages, currently a real problem in Belgium. The system also buffers their solar energy, which they would otherwise feed back into the grid.

Nuclear power plant problems in Belgium

Belgium has faced a lot of problems with their nuclear power plants in the past few years. On March 2014 they had to shut down their nuclear power plants Doel 3 (1,006MW) and Tihange 2 (1,008MW), because of cracks in their steel reactor casings. In August 2014 Doel 4 (1,039MW) closed automatically after it overheated. Doel 4 was opened again in December 2014. Doel 1 (433MW) and Doel 2 (433MW) were set to close in 2015 after 40 years of use, but the Federal Government decided to extend their lifespan by 10 years.

Belgium’s Energy Minister Paul Magnette said:

“If we close the two oldest nuclear plants by 2015 as planned, Belgium will not be able to meet its domestic energy demands, which implies that we will have to buy energy abroad. We will be more dependent on our neighboring countries.”

Because of these issues Belgians are talking about buying their own generators, to be sure of power when the grid fails. Ysebaert decided to invest in their own reliable Hybrid Back-up system.

Electrical properties

Ysebaert no longer sufers from power outages now they have a Hybrid Back-up System. The system has the following characteristics:

Input : 3×400 VAC + N – 3 x 100A
Output : 3×400 VAC + N – 3 x 143A
Battery storage : 40kW Lithium Power Pack
UPS power : 30KVA
Maximum power : 100KVA

System components

Three Quattro inverter/chargers 48/10000/140-100-100 and a Lithium Power Pack of 40kW form the heart of this unique system. The complete installation also has a Lynx DC distribution system and a bypass unit with coupling to the existing electrical installation and solar energy system.

The entire installation dat can be seen with the built-in Color Control Display and via the VRM website (Victron Energy Remote Management). Status messages are sent by e-mail via the VRM website and a mobile phone module ensures the necessary SMS messages in case of a power failure.

Three in one

The system has a threefold set-up:

During a power outage there is a converter capacity of 30KVA available and a battery storage of 40kW. This allows Ysebaert to shut down their CNC machines in a controlled manner and continue working for 12 hours.
The solar energy that was not consumed and fed back into the grid can now be buffered in the Lithium Power Pack and used at night, during a power outage or to better handle peaks in demand.
The maximum peak current is set by the distribution grid manager for one year in the distribution and transport rates. Avoiding such current peaks can generate significant long-term savings. The Smart Hybrid Energy System can offset these current peaks by adding supply via the battery and the converters, when a certain power is met which is set in advance.

More information about this system can be found in the News section of the Ysebaert website.