World’s first E-STATCOM energised in Germany

• 7 months ago (2025-12-05)
• David Flin

Distribution 169 Europe 1179

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The world’s first E-STATCOM was officially commissioned in Mehrum, Germany in early December by Siemens Energy .

The E-STATCOM stabilises the power grid using supercapacitors to deliver short bursts of power within milliseconds, thus creating synthetic inertia, previously provided by conventional power plants. With the growth of the share of energy supplied by renewables, this inertia had been falling. Unlike batteries, which rely on chemical processes, supercapacitors store electricity directly, allowing them to inject short bursts of power into the grid within milliseconds, helping to stabilise it.

Hans-Günther Platz, Project Manager at Siemens Energy, said By adding supercapacitors, E-STATCOM can stabilize both voltage and frequency—two parameters instead of one.”