A new, state-of-the-art, 5 MW lithium-ion energy storage system was recently unveiled in South Salem, Oregon. The new energy storage system — which is a demonstration project — will allow the storage of the excess electricity occasionally produced by some intermittent renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, as well as providing other services.
The energy storage system is integrated with a localized power zone — a microgrid — which means that about 500 customers in the area will be able to retain power even during regional electrical blackouts. The microgrid, and the new energy storage system, are both a part of the Pacific Northwest Smart Grid Demonstration Project — a project designed with the intention of testing out innovative technologies and energy solution methods in the real world, and potentially spurring their wide-scale adoption.
“The Pacific Northwest Smart Grid Demonstration Project is a successful public-private partnership involving 17 organizations across five Northwest states,” said Patricia Hoffman, assistant secretary for DOE’s Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, which oversees regional smart grid demonstration projects. “It is a highly innovative project demonstrating transactive energy management, which is a promising, cost-effective way to integrate variable renewable energy, energy storage and demand response at scale. The celebration of the Salem Smart Power Center makes it clear that Oregon is helping to lead the way on energy storage commercialization and grid modernization.”
The 5 MW lithium-ion energy storage system was developed by Portland General Electric as part of its contribution to the Battelle-led Pacific Northwest Smart Grid Demonstration Project. Half of the facility’s development cost of $23-million-dollars was covered by the US Department of Energy. As a whole, the Pacific Northwest Smart Grid Demonstration Project is a five-year, $178-million project that launched in 2010. More
