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Contact:
Tracy Warren, NRECA
703-907-5746
Mobile: 703-517-3411

September 9, 2009 - The Cooperative Research Network’s battery proposal enlists co-ops from coast to coast to experiment with batteries for renewable energy integration and demand response.

Rural electric cooperatives located in Hawaii, Alaska, South Carolina and Florida have joined the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s Cooperative Research Network (CRN) on a proposal to test the potential uses and benefits of new zinc bromide batteries. CRN submitted a request for half of the project’s total cost of $15 million to the U.S. Department of Energy, which is seeking to advance energy storage technologies.

The challenge of storing energy for controlled dispatch has long vexed the utility sector, however recent advances in different types of batteries open the door to new research. If this proposal is funded, CRN will test nine advanced batteries providing 4.5 MW of peak power and 31.5 MWh in storage at four cooperatives. The batteries will support solar and wind production, improve security for a military base, optimize transmission and distribution operation, and manage peak loads. The zinc bromide batteries are manufactured in the U.S. by Premium Power Corp.

CRN has already conducted research on energy storage, issuing two recent reports: one examining the cost and benefits of battery energy storage and another evaluating the viability of all types of batteries for bulk energy storage to identify optimal systems.

Highlights
Central Electric Power Cooperative, Inc. in South Carolina
CEPCI will install two PPC TransFlow 2000s, for total capacities of 1MW and 7.4 MWh. The batteries will charge during lower cost off-peak periods and discharge during peak times. CEPCI has a long-standing demand-side management program with load control switches installed on water heaters and air conditioners throughout the system. SCADA will allow CEPCI’s load management staff to control battery charge/discharge in a similar manner. Reducing load results in lower costs to consumers and may delay or eliminate the need for additional peak load generation (combustion turbines) on the system. Reduced system load also results in lower fuel costs, lower emissions of NOx during peak periods, and reduced consumption of natural gas and oil.

Kotzebue Electric Association in Alaska
KEA will install one PPC TransFlow 2000 (500 kW, 3.7 MWh, 7.4 hours) to shift wind turbines from off-peak to on-peak, reduce diesel generation operation and number of starts, reduce diesel fuel consumption, and provide frequency regulation. This storage system would increase emergency capacity for the system, as KEA is subject to 10 or more cyclonic storms each winter. By installing the TransFlow 2000 battery, KEA’s Cost of Energy Reduction Program will achieve a more than 50 percent reduction in diesel-based power. This battery will also increase voltage stability.

Among other benefits, energy storage is required to realize the benefits of increased wind penetration in Kotzebue. The KEA system has seen up to 60 percent wind and, as it is an islanded utility, a fast-acting TransFlow 2000 battery system would provide the necessary frequency regulation and spinning reserve for the utility to utilize these high levels of wind and maintain system stability. Demonstrating this technology could offer significant benefits to other villages in Alaska as more wind energy is harnessed.

Kauai Island Utility Cooperative in Hawaii
KIUC will install four PPC TransFlow 2000s (2000 kW, 14.8 MWh, 7.4 hours) at the end of a radial line serving a military installation. KIUC will be adding 5 MW of photovoltaic (PV) generation over five years, beginning in 2010. At present, KIUC has approximately 3 MW of customer-sited PV generation. The batteries are essential to realizing the full value of the PV, and also to improving grid reliability, providing frequency regulation and spinning reserves, and shifting solar production to coincide with KIUC peaks. 

During emergency situations, the self-dispatching capability of the energy storage system can operate as a microgrid, enhancing the reliability and security of the critical Barking Sands Pacific Missile Range Facility. The project also will incorporate a co-located and integrated PV generation facility, thus converting an otherwise non-dispatchable source of energy into a fully dispatchable capacity resource.

Seminole Electric Cooperative, Inc. in Florida
SECI will install 1 MW battery (2 PPC 2000s) collocated with up to 5 MW of utility-scale PV capacity hours. The energy storage system will be used to manage the intermittency of the PV generator, create full dispatchability for the PV generator, achieve full installed capacity value for the PV facility, and improve utilization factors for other generating facilities and the overall transmission system.

The combined facility, inside the service territory of one of Seminole’s member co-ops located Bowling Green, Fla., will generate significant dispatchable renewable energy for the town’s annual electricity needs. (Approximately 35 percent of the electric energy needs of the 3,000 people served by the Bowling Green substation would be met with renewable energy, assuming the 5 MW photovoltaic system is installed as planned.) The combined battery/PV facility will reduce flow from the transmission network, allowing the network to be employed for other service. The combined facility also will be capable of serving as an independently dispatched power source to serve local needs safely in emergency situations, such as hurricane aftermaths.

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