GE Renewable Energy has reached an agreement with Helios Energy to deliver two energy storage systems that will be integrated with solar arrays for a project in Upstate New York.
The hybrid system will be installed in Lenox, N.Y., at the end of 2019. It is expected to reach commercial operation in the second quarter of 2020.
The project will enable dispatchable renewable energy penetration into the grid. The battery system will store energy that the solar project generates during the day and will allow the site to meet power requirements during other peak demand periods.
The system will use a direct DC-coupled configuration with a single inverter and single point of interconnection shared by the solar array and the storage system, helping improve the overall energy output of the hybrid system while optimizing equipment and installation costs and increasing the overall system reliability, says GE.
“The world is seeing an increased penetration of renewable generation, driven by the declining levelized cost of electricity of wind and solar,” says Rob Morgan, energy storage CEO of GE Renewable Energy. “In addition, with the context of declining costs of battery storage, combining renewable energy generation sources together with storage will help unlock new revenue and value streams in the renewable hybrid industry and accelerate the energy transition to more renewables.”
