EnerNOC, Ltd., a subsidiary of Enel X, has signed an agreement with Amhil North America, a privately held packaging company for the food services industry, to deploy a 2.34 MW/4.7 MWh lithium-ion energy storage system. The new system will be installed at Amhil’s facility in Mississauga, Ontario.
Under the terms of the agreement, Enel X will purchase, install and operate the battery on behalf of Amhil North America, and share the savings which are expected to be created by Enel X DEN.OS optimization software that controls the battery. The DEN.OS platform will analyze Amhil’s energy consumption patterns and execute a control strategy to maximize total economic value from all available value streams. Enel X will also provide demand management services and enroll the energy storage system in IESO’s demand response program.
The lithium-ion storage project expands upon Amhil North America’s existing relationship with Enel X, as a demand response customer through EnerNOC, Ltd. since 2010. With the addition of the energy storage system, Amhil is expected to see enhanced benefits from its demand response program, while adding financial savings from managing peak charges. The storage system is due to be deployed in the second half of 2018 and is aimed at helping Amhil save 20% in energy expenditure over the life of the 11-year contract.
Demand response programs pay large energy consumers, such as manufacturing facilities, data centers, and commercial real estate companies, to adjust their power consumption, with the aim to stabilize the grid. Demand response provides greater grid flexibility, stability and more efficient use of power infrastructure, with a view to help maintain electricity prices as low as possible for all consumers.
The Enel X storage system can create additional value by optimizing the use of the battery for IESO’s wholesale demand response program. The energy intelligence software, DEN.OS allows Amhil North America to monetize its energy storage system by participating in the IESO program, which pays large energy consumers for being on standby ready to reduce their electricity consumption in response to grid system needs, as well as providing incremental payments if and when they are dispatched. By tapping into the energy stored in the battery, Amhil North America can reduce its energy consumption when required by the grid to contribute to its stability, without any impact on the company’s overall operations.
With this new system, Enel X expands its energy storage footprint in Canada. Earlier this year, Enel X launched its first energy storage project in Canada, a 1 MWh lithium-ion behind-the-meter battery system at Algoma Orchards in Ontario.
Enel has a North American footprint as well. In March it was announced that Kohler Co. signed a 15-year deal with Enel Green Power North America to purchase 100 MW of wind power annually that will power the company’s operations in the US and Canada. Power will come from the Diamond Vista wind farm near Salina, Kansas, a nearly 300-MW project that Enel acquired from the renewable energy developer Tradewind Energy. Construction has already begun on the new wind farm, and it is expected to begin operations by the end of this year.
And in April, General Motors and Bloomberg LP announced they invested in long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) with Enel’s new wind farm, which is under construction in Illinois. Enel, through its US renewable company Enel Green Power North America, Inc. (EGPNA), started construction of the 185 MW HillTopper, its first wind farm in the US state of Illinois.