Minnesota’s largest retail electric cooperative is in negotiations to build a 20 MW, 40 MWh energy storage system, which can be deployed for a combination of uses, including peak shaving, demand response, and frequency regulation.
This will be the largest energy storage facility in the state and it will be built alongside three solar installations. Connexus Energy is planning the installation of the facility.
Minnesota has nearly reached its 25% by 2025 renewable portfolio standard target and is looking at increasing that target to 50% by 2030. The state is relying largely on solar and energy storage to meet such targets.
According to midwestenergynews.com:
Globally, storage is seeing a dramatic upswing. A recent GTM Research report showed that storage will reach 2.6 GW by 2022, a 12 fold increase over 2016.
The market will be worth $3.2 billion, a tenfold increase over 2016. California will remain the nation’s leaders, a position solidified by a move by regulators in 2013 to require the state’s three largest utilities to build 1.3 GW of storage by 2020.
Jon Kramer, CEO of Sundial Solar, said on minnesota.cbslocal.com that he sees an inevitability of renewable power taking over the market. “It is happening; the batteries and the renewables are going to marry together, and they are going to be the cheapest source of power we’ve ever seen,” he said.
If true, this has tremendous repercussions for businesses in states that rely on renewable energy and storage systems.