San Jose, California–based STEM has been selected for an 85 MW distributed energy storage system by Southern California Edison. 85 MW is a big system in terms of energy storage, and all of it must be operational by 2021. (Note, though, that STEM has an even larger system in the pipeline for next year.)
“We could put thousands of our systems in buildings throughout a highly congested area and serve as a virtual peaker plant,” said STEM CEO John Carrington. A peaker plant is one that usually only operates when there is peak electricity demand. For example, during the hottest part of the summer when air conditioning use is highest, peaker plants may come online to add extra electricity to the grid. Peaker plants generally burn natural gas to turn turbines which make electricity, but STEM uses lithium-ion batteries.
Of course, lithium-ion batteries don’t produce emissions when used, a major benefit of this option. They are also much more responsive to and can quickly adapt to changes in supply or demand. They also have smaller land requirements. A 98 MW peaker plant in the Central Valley is located on a 15 acre parcel of land. A proposed peaker plant for Ventura County was linked to a 16 acre parcel.
In Northern California, a different STEM project could be using 1.2 MW to 3.6 MW batteries, so it would be possible the company could do the same in the Los Angeles area.
Nearly 70 Extended Stay America hotels in California are getting STEM battery systems. This addition is designed to help them avoid peak electricity charges, but it might also provide some backup in the event of an outage. If there were thousands of STEM systems in buildings, imagine how that could help grid stability and perhaps also reduction of peak power prices.
Los Angeles is no stranger to power outages, and having at least a little backup in the form of distributed battery systems could surely help out a bit.
The drought in California has made wildfires more probable, which can damage electricity transmission lines and result in blackouts. The more battery backup and responsiveness in the grid we can build, the better we can manage such issues.
Source: http://cleantechnica.com/2014/11/12/85-mw-energy-storage-project-stem-california/
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