Shell and Inaccess to deploy Unity Platform in 100MW Hybrid Project

As part of its global push in the renewable energy space, global energy firm Shell has developed a hybrid asset in the Netherlands in collaboration with Inaccess that would help in monitoring and controlling the renewable energy project. The Shell-developed renewable power plant consists of a 50MW photovoltaic power plant and a 50MW wind farm.

Today many grid operators and developers are facing challenges due to reduced grid capacity. Shell says that the Netherlands is one of the countries dealing with such challenges stemming from the fast growth of its renewable energy sector during the last couple of years.

One of the solutions to circumvent grid congestion is to co-locate Solar and Wind plants. These types of generation assets complement each other very well since there is an abundance of solar energy during the day and in the summer months while there is plenty of wind during the winter months.

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This complementary nature of solar and wind can stabilize the intermittent nature of the energy production and maximize grid connection utilization, leading to significant benefits in terms of dispatchability, flexibility, and reliability.

In order to control and monitor this complex project, Shell worked with Inaccess, a global leader in control and monitoring solutions for renewable energy projects. The two have already cooperated in the past for utility-scale projects in Australia and the EMEA region. The official statement of Shell says that Shell and Inaccess will continue collaborating on a project pipeline in various countries.

According to the statement, the Unity system of Inaccess optimizes the operation of modern renewable power plants and portfolios encompassing PV, Batteries, Wind and Microgrids. It fine-tunes control as the system has low-level distributed control architecture and grid interaction. There is crystallizing and centralizing by providing accurate data acquisition and scalability. The technology also helps in maximizing energy production by identifying and evaluating cases of underperformance. Optimization of market revenues by minimizing imbalance costs and maximizing Energy Capture Price is also possible.

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Shell says that the integrated nature of the Unity system ensures “no-excuses” accurate monitoring, control and optimization and acts as the single version of truth among the EPC, O&M, Asset Management, and Market Management ecosystem, thus eliminating inefficiencies.

Co-locating wind farms with solar assets provides more grid-friendly power that is necessary in today’s congested grids. This pairing has the potential to disrupt and transform many renewable energy markets globally that are facing similar challenges, says Shell.