Re: Prospects for large-scale energy storage
Posted: Wed 24 Sep 2014, 18:35:49
The Biggest Battery in North America Gets Unveiled by SCE Today
greentechmedia
Although there are plenty of grid-scale energy storage procurement and deployment announcements being made, the truth is that utilities are still figuring energy storage out. While the grid-scale energy storage industry aspires to enter commercialization, utilities might still be rooted in the demonstration stage.
Southern California Edison's demonstration project at the Monolith substation in the Tehachapi Mountains, unveiled today, happens to be the largest battery project in North America and one of the largest battery storage projects in the world. Other battery storage projects in this size range include the Duke Energy Notrees wind farm in west Texas and the 8-megawatt-hour Laurel Mountain Wind Farm. (The DOE has a database of global energy storage projects here.)
Southern California Edison has been working with LG Chem on the 8-megawatt, 32-megawatt-hour lithium-ion battery system since 2010. The Tehachapi Mountains, where the project is sited, is an area with the potential to produce up to 4.5 gigawatts of wind energy by 2016.
Here are some stats on the project:
8 megawatts with 4-hour duration, 32 megawatt-hour lithium-ion battery energy storage system
LG Chem provided the batteries, ABB provided the balance of plant
The battery system comprises 604 battery racks, 10,872 battery modules and 608,832 individual battery cells, according to SCE
A 6,300-square-foot building houses the energy storage system
The substation is on the 66-kilovolt Antelope-Bailey system
The cells are the same lithium-ion cells installed in battery packs supplied to GM for the Chevrolet Volt
The $53.5 million demonstration is funded by SCE as well as federal stimulus money from the DOE as part of 2009's ARRA
greentechmedia