EDF Power Solutions, a subsidiary of EDF focused on renewable energy, launched its first battery energy storage system in Metropolitan France on June 11 in Baixas, located in the Pyrénées-Orientales region. The system includes four containers filled with lithium-ion batteries, providing a total power capacity of 20 megawatts (MW). These batteries work alongside ten run-of-the-river hydroelectric dams spread across southern France, forming the Catalan Energy Storage (SEC), a virtual power plant with a total power output of 28 MW. This project is relatively small for EDF, which already operates 1 gigawatt of battery storage systems in other regions and overseas territories that are not interconnected with the mainland. Earlier this year, EDF had already installed a 15 MW battery at its combined cycle gas power plant in Blénod-lès-Pont-à-Mousson, in Meurthe-et-Moselle. This battery was designed to help the plant deliver electricity more quickly during times of high demand. The Baixas installation is more advanced than previous projects, as the batteries are no longer supporting a single power plant but rather ten hydroelectric dams across southern France. This setup functions as a virtual power plant, a system that combines multiple smaller electricity storage or production units into a single, controllable resource. The batteries initially handle the immediate electricity needs, and then the hydroelectric dams gradually take over. At the request of RTE, the national transmission grid manager, the system can inject or absorb electricity for up to fifteen minutes. EDF has not disclosed the exact storage capacity of the batteries in megawatt-hours (MWh), which would indicate how long they can operate at full power alone. The Catalan Energy Storage system includes 20 MW of battery power and 8 MW from the ten hydroelectric dams. The system is managed in real time by a software developed by EDF's research and development department, which coordinates the distribution of power and energy between the batteries and dams. EDF claims the system can respond in half a second (500 milliseconds) and reach its maximum power output within 30 seconds. These fast response times allow the system to contribute to the primary reserve, a mechanism used by RTE to maintain the stability of the electrical grid. EDF is relying on this flexibility to better integrate non-dispatchable renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, into the grid. However, the company has no immediate plans to replicate this setup elsewhere. "We do not have another identical project," stated Catherine Bourg, storage coordinator at EDF Power Solutions, in an interview with L'Usine Nouvelle.