energy storage

GE Energy Storage is providing the storage for a 500 kWh load-shifting project for the Southern California Edison project at the Discovery Science Centre in Santa Ana.

The project aims to shift 10 – 20% of the centre’s daily electrical consumption to off-peak hours by using a 500kWh storage system to provide backup power.

GE is providing a turnkey Durathon battery energy storage system and Princeton Power Systems is providing the invertor control system to integrate with the storage system to load shift to enable the Centre to reduce its peak electricity usage and thus its electrical bill.

Kellee Preston, Vice President of operations at Discovery Science Centre, said: “We are eager to demonstrate technologies that can reduce our energy cost while adding to the reliability of the electric grid. We’ll be able to use the system to increase outreach on energy issues and better explain the benefits that storage can bring to the electric grid system.”

Southern California Edison is managing the project as part of California’s statewide initiative to reduce peak demand on the electrical grid. Along with the Centre, SCE will monitor the performance of the system and use it to assess how remote storage systems can bolster distribution network’s performance.

The South Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy is considering a restructure of its electricity rates to promote the inclusion of energy storage and demand management.

Subscribe here to read the full story.

Four projects involving a multiplicity of companies won commercial achievement awards at the Energy Storage North America (ESNA) conference in San Jose. Notrees Wind Energy Storage, SCPPA Thermal Energy Storage Programme, Santa Rita Jail Smart Grid, and Grid on Wheels each won for their innovation at utility scale.

The first project to win was the Notrees Wind Energy Storage Project, located in Goldsmith, TX. It performs frequency regulation, renewables capacity firming and electricity shifting with a 36MW, 24MWh advanced lead-acid storage system. Xtreme Power, Duke Energy and the DOE won an utility-scale awards for this project.

The second award went to Southern California Public Power Authority (SCPPA) Thermal Energy Storage Programme located in Glendora, CA. It uses thermal energy installed at 200 customer facilities, totaling 2.5MW, 15MWh of rated capacity to supply energy time shifting, T&D deferral and renewable energy time shifting to the grid. SCPPA and Ice Energy also won a utility scale award for this project.

Next up was the Santa Rita Jail Smart Grid, in Dublin, CA, which is the country's largest CERTS-based microgrid (Consortium for Electric Reliability Technology Solutions) with renewable generation and large-scale energy storage. The microgrid remains operational even in the event of a regional power outage to maintain reliability and security at Alameda County's Santa Rita Jail. The companies involved were Alameda County, APT, BYD, CEC, Chevron Energy Solutions, DOE, Encorp and S&C Electric.

The final project to win was Grid on Wheels, of Newark, DE. It is the first case of EV batteries, chargers, and charging infrastructure to participate in, and generate revenue from, open ancillary services markets, including frequency regulation. The companies involved, BMW, EV Grid, NRG, and University of Delaware, won the award for being the most innovative mobility project in North America.

Entrants came from a range of applications that generate revenue by providing market services for the grid, such as frequency regulation, load shifting or spinning reserve. They were marked for: services provided to the grid, financing options, ownership model and technology strengths.

South Korea shipped 20% more rechargeable batteries overseas in 2011 finacial year than the previous year.  Of these, 56% were lithium-ion making South Korea the world’s largest exporter of lithium-ion batteries for 2011.  The exports of the batteries were valued at US$3.8 billion according to the Korea Customs Service.