S&C Electric Company has been awarded a new project by Half Moon Ventures (HMV) to supply and build a 7 MW energy storage facility. The project will be located in Minster, Ohio and is being built in conjunction with the local municipal utility, the Village of Minster. Once complete, the project will be one of the largest energy storage systems in Ohio.
HMV and the Village of Minster will benefit from four unique revenue streams, which will offset the costs of grid improvements while improving the rate of return. HMV will be able to sell into PJM's frequency regulation market, which helps to provide grid reliability for more than 60 million customers. The Village of Minster will use the energy storage system to defer T&D costs, improve power quality and shave peak demand.
"Revenue stacking is one of the quickest ways to create a strong return on investment for energy storage systems," says Troy Miller, director – Grid Solutions, S&C Electric Company. "In the case of the Minster project, we are seeing one of the first examples of how a municipal utility can work with a developer to create multiple revenue streams that benefit both parties, and we expect to see more projects like this in the future."
HMV will use S&C's 7 MW PureWave® SMS Storage Management System, providing fully integrated storage management and power conversion for 3 MWh of lithium-ion batteries. The system will help Minster better manage energy demand during peak periods and provide reliable back-up power, while deferring the acquisition of costly reactive power compensation equipment. The system will also be tied to HMV's adjacent 4.2 MW solar plant, allowing Minster to further reduce their peak demand charges in the middle of the day. Once complete, the solar + storage system will be the largest U.S. facility of its kind connected through a municipal utility.
"With the new system, we are able to improve reliability and capacity while leveraging renewable energy sources without costly investments into grid expansion," says Michael Hastings, CEO, HMV. "S&C helped us prove that multiple revenue streams in energy storage deployments can help solve our customer's financial and operational needs."
In addition to the SMS, S&C is supplying their 15-kV Vista® Underground Distribution Switchgear to provide protection and control between the storage system and the grid. S&C's scope of work will include all major power system studies as well as the complete engineering, procurement and construction for the project.