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New battery technology is tested in Pilsen

The Pilsen City Public Transport Company (PMDP) has launched a series of tests of a battery buffer storage station at the final station of trolleybus line 16 in September 2020. The charging station is connected only to the trolleybus overhead wires from which its battery is continuously charged, and under load it is able to quickly supply a larger amount of energy back to the trolleybuses. The main function of the station is to strengthen places with insufficient power supply. 

PMDP got the opportunity by the provider of the battery station to test a new type of such a station, equipped with more efficient lithium batteries (the charging effort of the new station is more than doubled, compared to the old station, and the usable capacity of the storage is three times bigger). The new battery station is now being tested, following a time plan where several factors are combined, so that as many as possible of imaginable scenarios are covered by the tests, to avoid any future complications in case the battery station should be launched into regular traffic as it is planned. Factors being involved into the testing scenarios are based on the battery station and feeder nr. 40 that is under standard conditions responsible for energy supply in the area where the tests take place.

Each phase of the tests runs for one week (working days only). The tests started on the 11^th January, and according to the schedule, they are to be finished by the 5^th March, covering the following cases:

• Phase 0: testing of the installed battery station by its producer, feeder nr. 40 inactive;

• Phase 1a: standard traffic, battery station inactive;

• Phase 1b: standard traffic, both battery station and feeder nr. 40 inactive;

• Phase 1c: standard traffic, battery station active, feeder nr. 40 inactive;

• Phase 2a: both battery station and feeder nr. 40 inactive, feeder nr. 41 supplied from the central converter station;    

• Phase 2b: feeder nr. 40 inactive, feeder nr. 41 supplied from the central converter station, battery station active;    

• Phase 3a: standard traffic of central converter station, partial trolleybuses operation on affected lines (14 and 16), battery station inactive;

• Phase 3b: standard traffic of central converter station, partial trolleybuses operation on affected lines (14 and 16), battery station active.

So far, all the tests are running according to the planned schedule. An unexpected, but welcomed circumstance was the unusually long period of days with sub-zero temperatures that enabled gathering data even under extreme conditions. As in the case of the test series done in last autumn with the old battery station, the data gathered is sent to Gdańsk University of Technology, PMDP´s co-partner within the Interreg EfficienCE project for detailed analysis. The outcomes will be known after the last running test. 

Author of the article: Martin Liška (PMDP)

Background photo: PMDP