Utility Scale

Manage renewables, maximize penetration and value

Worker and transmission lines at sunset

Solar and wind at sunsetIntermittent renewable resources are the primary source of new generation capacity. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, nearly 40 gigawatts of new generating capacity will start operation in 2021 of which 39% will be solar and 31% will be wind.

That means 70% of this year’s new generation will be intermittent. Integrating increasing amounts of renewable energy will require grid-scale long-duration energy storage to maintain grid stability and deliver reliable, clean energy. ESS solutions can deliver that storage safely, sustainably and cost-effectively.

Energy Storage Use Cases

Peaker plant replacement

Ancillary services

Capacity reserve

Grid resiliency

PV and wind shifting

Datasheets

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The ESS Energy Center is a grid-scale, long duration battery that delivers up to 12 hours of capacity. It is ideally suited to help utilities:

Shift PV and wind power: Store excess renewables production when available and shift energy to when it is needed. Avoid curtailments and get the greatest possible benefit from renewable assets.

Smooth renewable intermittency: Instantly react to changes in renewable generation output with fast, unlimited cycle capability.

Augment or replace polluting peakers: Clean up your resource mix by augmenting or replacing fossil-fuel-based peaking plants.

Support market participation: Use ESS systems forfrequency regulation and other ancillary services. As markets evolve, storage has the potential to serve as spinning reserves and even capacity. The Energy Center would meet PJM’s “10-hour rule” that requires duration-limited resources to provide stated capacity for as long as 10 continuous hours. ESS systems can also be configured to provide “black start” capabilities, further providing grid resilience.

Defer T&D upgrades: Alleviate congestion on power lines by holding power when the lines are at capacity and delivering it later. Or, use storage during demand response initiatives to deliver energy and load as needed.

Power microgrids and support virtual power plants: Long-duration storage solutions boost reliability and flexibility of distributed energy resources.

Use case: PV and wind shifting

With long-duration storage, it is possible to store excess renewable production and shift energy to when it has greater value. Long-duration and multi-cycle energy storage can smooth and shift renewable to deliver clean baseload power.