Energy Storage on the Grid in the New Year

The new year brings some good pieces of news on the energy storage front. If the first week of 2011 is any indication of trends to come over the next 12 months, there’s much to look forward to in the area of utility-scale energy storage.

Perhaps the biggest news (not in terms of scale but in terms of significance) is that the first utility-scale battery storage system in the U.S. is now in commercial operation. The system is an 8 MW lithium ion battery located in Johnson City, NY. The project, which is operated by AES Energy Storage, is operating simultaneously as a provider of frequency regulation services and load following, as well as customer electricity demand.

While there are dozens of MW of battery storage in various stages of development and testing in the U.S., the Johnson City installation makes history as the first one that is actually a full-fledged system playing in the natural gas dominated ancillary services market. The battery will compete alongside natural gas peakers to stabilize the New York Independent System Operator’s control area, which includes the entire state of New York. While the first phase of eight MW is in operation, plans are to phase in an additional 12 MW later this year.

Energy Storage on the Grid in the New Year | CleanTechies Blog - CleanTechies.com