PGE pilots iron-flow based long-duration energy storage with ESS
Portland General Electric (PGE) will pilot ESS’ iron-flow-based 3MWh Energy Center as a long-duration energy storage system that can help accelerate the company’s transition to clean energy.
PGE will use the Energy Center for frequency response, contingency reserve, voltage and VAR optimisation, demand response, resource optimisation and grid resilience in Oregon.
The Energy Center is a ‘battery-in-a-building’ platform that US-based energy storage specialist ESS is developing for utility-scale front-of-the-meter energy storage applications.
Once operational in mid-2022, the system will provide storage capacity of up to 12 hours and is based on an environmentally-friendly combination of iron, salt and water. The center has a planned 25-year operating life.
Darren Murtaugh, senior manager of grid edge solutions at PGE said: “Building a reliable, affordable clean energy future requires us working together with industry innovators.
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“Our collaboration with ESS on the Energy Center will provide important learnings on our path to meeting our greenhouse gas emission reduction targets.”
By applying long-duration energy storage, PGE will be able to store huge renewable energy capacity and enable its use during times when most needed on the grid for reliability.
Long-duration storage enables energy firms to address renewable energy fluctuations and use renewables to provide baseload power.
According to a study conducted by the Long-Duration Energy Storage Council, up to 140TWh of long-duration energy storage is needed to enable grid net-zero by 2040 at the lowest cost.
Eric Dresselhuys, ESS said: “Long-duration energy storage technology is essential for enabling grid decarbonisation at scale…”
However, an investment of between $1.5 trillion to $3 trillion is required in energy storage hence governments, investors and utilities need to increase their spending in technology rollout.
However, positive developments have been recorded in the past five years with the energy sector investing $3 billion in technology research, development and deployment, according to the study.
An increasing amount of utilities have also shown interest in iron flow-based long-duration energy storage with ESS partnering with companies including Enel, San Diego Gas and Electric, GRUP SAESA and SB Energy.
