Foresight Renewable Solutions has selected Imergy Power Systems’ ESP30 series vanadium-based flow batteries for a microgrid project sponsored by the California Energy Commission (CEC) and hosted by the US Navy.
To be deployed at the Navy’s Mobile Utilities Support Equipment Facility in Port Hueneme, Calif., the project will focus on developing applications and use-case scenarios to optimize power consumption at military bases, college campuses, industrial parks and other institutions.
The project will include:
- Demand charge management: The project will demonstrate how well the system can release short bursts of energy when demand peaks occur, enabling users to reduce their electricity bills by lowering their utility demand charges.
- Load shifting: The project will prove how well the system can shift load from higher cost times of day to lower cost times of day, enabling users to reduce their electricity bills by shifting load to times when electricity prices are lower.
- Solar firming and ramp rate control: The project will show how well batteries can smooth out the jagged nature of solar power production, helping solar power systems provide more consistent power throughout the day.
- Island mode: The project will demonstrate how well a PV solar system and battery storage, disconnected from the grid, can provide energy for a user’s critical loads during a given time period, enabling similar systems to be securely deployed at remote, mission critical facilities.
Three Imergy ESP30 series vanadium-based flow batteries will be incorporated into the project, which will also feature a 50 kW PV solar panel system and an energy operating system from Growing Energy Labs (Geli) to automate the multiple applications. The ESP30 series has a capacity of up to 50 kW and can store up to 200 kWh of electricity.