Qinous Becomes Rolls-Royce’s Microgrid Competence Center

Rolls-Royce expanded the Germany-based business formerly run as Qinous GmbH into a Microgrid Competence Center.

The new competence center’s portfolio includes energy supply systems that are connected to the public power grid or are fully independent of it. “The microgrids complete our product and solution line-up for distributed power generation. From battery storage and intelligent electronic control systems to diesel or gas gensets – we’re not merely a supplier of modules from the MTU product range, but rather we’re offering our customers tailor-made total solutions featuring things like solar and wind power generation,” said Andreas Görtz, vice president of the Power Generation business unit.

Rolls-Royce is also growing its portfolio of battery storage systems which will be produced at its Germany facility in the town of Ruhstorf, Bavaria. The storage solutions are rated from 40 kVA to 2,000 kVA, and have capacities ranging between 50 kWh and 2,600 kWh. The MTU-branded products are being offered as 20-foot and 40-foot containers; they are scalable and available as compact versions too.

Battery storage is a core component of microgrids and is also used as integral equipment in solar parks for ensuring grid stabilization, or as charging infrastructure for electric vehicles.

“We are convinced that microgrids are among the optimum solutions for tomorrow’s environmentally friendly, high-efficiency power supply systems,” commented Andreas Schell, CEO of Rolls-Royce’s Power Systems Division. “With Qinous, we are expanding our microgrid expertise and combining the dynamics of a start-up with the security and reliability of a large corporate group.”

Cordelia Thielitz, who heads up the Microgrid Solutions business unit at Rolls-Royce, said: “We’re seeing great global demand for microgrids in a wide range of application areas. In countries such as Germany and the US, the microgrid solutions are particularly attractive for industrial applications, among others, as a result of their CO₂ reduction and secure energy supply credentials.” But there are opportunities in less developed markets too, as Thielitz added: “Used as self-sufficient, distributed power grids, these power systems enable remote mines or villages without public grid access to cover their electricity needs in a way that is both economical and sustainable.”

Qinous is a Berlin-based start-up with a porfolio of over 50 microgrid projects installed worldwide. Rolls-Royce acquired a 73.1% majority stake in January 2020 and now renamed the company as Rolls-Royce Solutions Berlin GmbH while simultaneously expanding it as the Microgrid Competence Center. On the decision, Rolls-Royce commented that the Group is investing even more heavily in its distributed energy systems business.