RE+ Tech Supp to POWER September 2023 - 15

SEPTEMBER 2023 | WWW.POWERMAG.COM
in the U.S. has more than doubled since
2015, and with natural disasters also on
the rise, blackouts are inevitable. This
leaves utilities challenged with adapting
current energy systems to these
worsening conditions. In 2023, we will
see a growing momentum across the
country to incorporate home solar and
battery capacity as regulators look to
provide greater resilience to the electric
grid. "
" As utilities continue to get more
comfortable with energy storage on
their systems, we are seeing an expansion
of acceptable applications, "
said Mike Toomey, director of storage
development at Redeux Energy, a clean
energy project developer. " Storage
is now being considered an option to
mitigate transmission and distribution
upgrades. As that trend evolves, we
may even see scenarios where solar
is co-located with storage transmission
assets to avoid the need to charge
from the grid under more extreme constraint
scenarios. "
Marija Vujacic, PhD, product manager
for Battery Energy Storage Systems
with Hitachi Energy, told POWER that
" storage adds a fundamental value in
balancing the variability of solar generation
while at the same time enabling
higher consumption of a self-generated
renewable power. It enables bidirectional
active power exchange with
the grid, which enables storage to
provide a wide range of applications
that cannot be provided by solar-only
systems such as stabilizing and operating
isolated renewable-driven power
systems. "
Utility-Scale Projects
Recent utility-scale solar-plus-storage
projects include the Darien Solar Energy
Center in Wisconsin. The state's
Public Service Commission recently approved
Madison Gas and Electric Co.'s
(MGE's) request to buy solar energy and
battery storage capacity from the $478
million facility, which includes 250 MW
of solar and 75 MW of battery storage.
Madison Gas will own 25 MW of solar energy
and 7.5 MW of battery storage from
the Invenergy-developed project.
" The Darien Solar Energy Center is
another important step in our ongoing
transition to cleaner energy sources,
reducing carbon at least 80% by
the end of this decade and achieving
net-zero carbon electricity by 2050, "
said Jeff Keebler, chairman, president,
and CEO of MGE. The rest of Darien's
solar and storage is expected to be
owned by WEC Energy Group subsidiaries
We Energies and Wisconsin Public
Service. The Darien site is expected
to enter commercial operation by yearend
2024.
" Solar panel manufacturing
and battery manufacturing
is coming back to the
U.S. Thanks to the IRA, the
production tax credits plus
the huge demand from U.S.
projects is driving U.S. manufacturing. "
-
Kevin Kohlstedt
" The pace of storage integration into
solar projects is accelerating as utilities
and independent system operators
(ISOs) realize the need and benefit of
having co-location of solar and storage
facilities, " said Ray Saka, vice president
of Sales and Service for IHI Terrasun
Solutions, the system integrator
and service provider for the 690-MW
Gemini solar and storage project (Figure
1) being built near Las Vegas, Nevada.
" We've also noticed an uptick in
the adoption of DC-coupled solar plus
storage versus its AC-coupled alternative
or standalone projects. " (Editor's
note: Get more insight from IHI
Terrasun in this POWER Interview with
company president Jamal Burki.)
Saka told POWER, though, that " with
the IRA incentive for standalone storage
systems, we may see more development
of standalone systems that
can now claim the tax credit, along with
potential for more advantageous siting
that is not tied to the expanse needed
for solar projects. "
On a smaller scale, microgrid deincreasingly
are
velopers
including
www.re-plus.com
2. The Noble Solar and Storage installation in Texas
includes 275 MW of solar power capacity along
with 125 MWh of energy storage. Courtesy: National
Grid Renewables
storage, along with solar and other
technologies, in installations designed
for off-grid and backup power sites,
especially as power reliability becomes
more of an issue.
" As a company mostly focusing on
off-grid and hybrid applications, we are
seeing much more of a demand in the
resilience and emergency response
space, " said Colin Touhey, CEO of Pvilion,
a New York-based solar equipment
developer and manufacturer. " The
resiliency world is a very big market.
There is a strong desire to be completely
independent from the grid, or
have the ability to disconnect and run
independent microgrids. "
Touhey told POWER his company
is seeing " demand for storage in gridtied
applications in more than 50% of
our new projects. Four or five years
ago, that demand was about 10%. The
solar energy produced can be fed into
the grid as needed to maximize revenues.
In the off-grid applications that
Pvilion builds [which include communications;
command centers; heating,
ventilation, and air conditioning; and
radar systems], this is critical, since
the demand varies throughout the day.
The energy storage system acts as a
buffer between the supply of power
[solar] and the demand [load]. "
PPAs Support Projects
Power purchase agreements (PPAs)
continue to drive solar-plus-storage
deployments. National Grid Renewables
recently announced the start of
commercial operation at its Noble Solar
and Storage Project (Figure 2) in Denton
County, Texas. The installation is a 275MW
solar and 125-MWh energy storage
15
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RE+ Tech Supp to POWER September 2023

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