Corsica Sole has completed two energy storage facilities with a combined capacity of 20 MWh, cementing its position as France’s leading storage operator.

In June 2021, Corsica Sole completed the construction of two electricity storage plants located in Corsica and on the island of Réunion. The storage plant in Corsica was commissioned in June 2021, and the one in Réunion is beginning a two-month testing phase.

With a capacity of 10 MWh each and not linked to a photovoltaic power plant, these storage units were approved by the CRE (Energy Regulatory Commission) in October 2018. With more than 60 MWh of power plants dedicated to energy storage, Corsica Sole has cemented its position as the leading storage operator in France.

A major challenge for a successful energy transition

These plants will enable the storage and release of 3.5 GWh per year of electrical energy on the Corsican and Reunion Island networks. Consisting of lithium-ion batteries, inverters, and transformers connected to the public electricity grid, these facilities will enable Corsica Sole to provide services to the public distribution network operator (EDF-SEI):

• A “load shifting” service, which consists of storing electricity during off-peak hours and releasing it during peak hours;
• Frequency regulation service, to maintain the nominal characteristics of the grid (voltage and frequency).

The installation of energy storage units meets the grid operator’s need to ensure a constant balance between electricity production and consumption. These power plants are made available and operated directly by the grid operator, offering maximum flexibility. By ensuring the stability of the electricity grid, storage plants are ideally suited to NIAs, areas that are not connected to the continental electricity grid.

Leading operator of stationary energy storage in France

A major player in solar energy in Non-Interconnected Areas (NIAs), Corsica Sole has developed expertise that is particularly necessary in these territories: energy storage. By compensating for the intermittency of renewable energies, one of the major obstacles to their development, the use of storage increases the integration of renewable energies into the energy mix, which addresses the challenge of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from island networks while lowering overall energy production costs.