Commercial and industrial energy users may benefit from the more efficient, cost-effective options available from a hybrid energy storage systems (HESS) over a typical stationary ESS, according to a recent report from Navigant Research. The advantages to deploying an HESS include lower cost, increased system efficiency, increased system lifetime due to optimized operation, and the ability to do more and last longer with less overall storage capacity.
The stationary energy storage industry is now exploring grid-scale hybrid solutions which integrate two or more energy storage technologies with complementary operating characteristics. These systems deliver power capacity, energy duration, and cycle life in a single system that is not achievable by any one energy storage technology. The HESS market is expected to exceed two GW in 2026, according to the report, with much of the growth expected to occur alongside the maturation of pure-play battery energy storage technology.
An HESS typically “includes storage technologies that separately cover sprinter loads required for fast response and marathon loads required for peak shaving and load shifting,” Greentech Media explains.
Last spring, Duke Energy started testing a HESS at its Rankin Substation in Gaston County, NC. Benefits of the HESS include extended operational life, rapid response, real-time solar smoothing and load shifting. The company said that better ways of incorporating renewable energy into its system while still providing reliable service would help ensure competitive pricing for its customers.
In January, Kaua?i Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC), a member-owned utility serving 33,000 electric accounts on the Hawaiian island of Kaua’i, and AES Distributed Energy signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) for a 28-MW solar photovoltaic energy plant, along with a 20-MW, five-hour duration energy storage system.
The utility described the goal for its hybrid solar and energy storage system as “optimal balancing of generation with peak demand.”
The system is anticipated to be the largest solar-plus-utility-scale-battery system in the state of Hawaii – and one of the biggest storage systems in the world.
