Dive Brief:
-
Adon Renewables has selected Powin Energy to provide 2.4 MWh of energy storage systems for seven solar-plus-storage projects in Hawaii.
-
The installations are at six sites on Oahu and one on Kauai and will have a total of 1.53 MW of solar capacity.
- The storage systems will be used to extend the output of the solar panels into the evening, as well as for frequency regulation, emergency services and capacity augmentation.
Dive Insight:
Hawaii’s goal of operating on 100% renewable power by 2045 is driving the growth of solar power and revisions to the state's net metering program in 2015 sought to boost storage by creating two classes of customers — those who export power to the utility and those who do not.
The export-oriented grid supply tariff has been more popular so far, but Powin said in a release that solar self-consumption and grid services will make the facilities economic for end users.
Powin says the batteries will be charged during the day when utility rates are lowest and discharged each evening to provide power into the high load periods in the evening, enabling users to avoid high rates.
The batteries will be charged with excess energy from the solar panels during the day when loads are lightest and utility rates the lowest," the company said in a release. "The batteries will then be fully discharged each evening to provide additional power during periods of increased grid load, thus allowing the facilities to avoid the highest rates."
Over time, the company said the facilities would begin to provide grid services for Hawaiian Electric and the Kauai co-op, creating another potential revenue source.
“The state has already installed a large amount of solar both residentially and commercially, but all of these distributed resources have created an urgent need for energy storage to maintain system frequency and voltage as well as energy shifting from daytime to peak periods in the evening when it is needed most,” Geoffrey Brown, president of Powin Energy, said in a statement.
The recently announced installations will couple a Powin Stock 140 storage system with solar PV panels and controlled by Powin's bp-OS technology.