The Y.Cube combines lithium-ion battery blocks with a Younicos-engineered power conversion system (PCS) in a customized enclosure, controlled by the company’s industry-leading intelligent energy storage software. According to James P. McDougall, Younicos Chief Executive Officer, the Y.Cube represents the next generation of integrated storage solutions. “The engineering and design of the Y.Cube were formed by our experience with 100 MW of installed storage capacity worldwide, performing under a wide range of operating conditions and system demands. We took the logical next step of injecting intelligence into fundamental system components, resulting in an energy storage converter and battery enclosure that’s purpose-built for today’s applications.”
Y.Cube’s compact size allows for easy installation. No on-site crane is needed; installation can be done with a forklift, saving considerable time and money. For ease of shipping, the Y.Cube can be split into its two sub-enclosures – one containing either one or two 250 kVA power conversion systems and the other housing the selected battery array.
Y.Cubes come in 250 or 500 kVA modular building blocks that can be deployed individually in smaller applications or combined to create multi-megawatt systems. Once installed, systems can be monitored and managed 24/7 via Younicos control centers in Austin, Texas and Berlin, Germany.
The Y.Cube consists of two sub-enclosures, one each for the power conversion system and dc-battery block. The Younicos-designed PCS is stacked on top of the dc block, significantly reducing space requirements and costs associated with engineering and balance of system components compared to systems of the same power rating. The controls are directly embedded in the PCS and communicate directly with the battery system, bypassing the need for additional battery-to-PCS communication interfaces. Its optimized configuration translates to ultra-fast response time for improved PCS efficiency and enhanced grid-forming capability.
The modular design of the Y.Cube allows using a range of battery technologies. Younicos works with multiple suppliers and can integrate different battery systems to address any required power-energy ratio. Batteries are rigorously tested in the company’s Technology Centers to ensure maximum performance and suitability for any system.
Alan Gotcher, Younicos Chief Technology Officer, explained: “The industry has seen a lot of improvements in battery technologies over recent years, but in our Technology Centers we have been looking at the entire storage solution. For example, one of the design issues that we paid attention to is how to improve operating losses as well as reducing performance risk. Thus we have been able to optimize enclosure cooling requirements and thereby reducing losses and improving battery degradation rates. We also looked at how to best distribute the number of battery racks per PCS so that we are maximizing the usable capacity of the battery technology”.
The Y.Cube’s compact size allows for easy installation. No on-site crane is needed; installation can be done with a forklift, saving considerable time and money. For ease of shipping, the Y.Cube can be split into its two sub-enclosures – one containing either one or two 250 kVA power conversion systems and the other housing the selected battery array.
Filed Under: Energy storage, News
