Hecate Grid, an energy storage company formed by Hecate Energy and InfraRed Capital Partners Ltd. (acting in its capacity as manager of InfraRed Infrastructure Fund V), has awarded Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Americas Inc. (MHPS) the Johanna Energy Storage System (ESS) project.
Hecate Grid will own and operate this grid-connected energy storage system, which will be supported by long-term contracts with an electric utility and a community choice aggregator. MHPS will supply full design and turnkey engineering, procurement and construction of battery energy storage systems (BESS) totaling 20 MW / 80 MWh at Johanna 1 and Johanna 2 in Santa Ana, Calif., and will service the project under a 10-year long-term service agreement. The project will be online by the end of 2020.
The Johanna ESS is a part of a critical project integrating renewable energy into the California Independent System Operator grid to validate distributed energy resource (DER) capacity assumptions, study grid requirements and develop technology expertise for broad-scale DER implementation. The multiyear study will determine whether clean distributed energy can offset the increasing demand for electricity in central Orange County.
“At MHPS we take pride in understanding our customers’ needs and providing customized short- and long-duration energy storage solutions,” says Tom Cornell, MHPS’ vice president of NEXT.
“We anticipate a beneficial partnership with Hecate Grid, which has deep experience in utility-scale energy storage projects, to support California’s efforts to evaluate, optimize and move forward with viable clean energy technologies,” he adds.
As more and more intermittent renewable power is added to the California grid, energy storage becomes increasingly important. The Johanna ESS project will be a stand-alone source of short-term energy storage that can relieve grid congestion and store power for up to four hours during periods of oversupply from renewables.
MHPS will provide Hecate Grid with a complete turnkey BESS solution, including a battery management system and an energy dispatch management system for a fully functional project up to the utility point of connection. To design its custom BESS solution and select the best equipment from key suppliers, MHPS draws upon its OEM experience designing lithium-ion batteries and its experience designing complete energy storage solutions.
MHPS and Hecate Grid selected lithium iron phosphate battery chemistry (LiFePO4, commonly referred to as LFP) for this project. LFP provides superior thermal stability and chemical stability, which significantly lower the risk of overheating and fire relative to other chemistries. LFP also provides a longer life than other chemistries.
Photo: A rendering of a Hectate Grid BESS
