The Chabot-Las Positas Community College District in California is installing an energy storage system in support of a 2.35 MW solar array as part of a California Energy Commission (CEC) microgrid project.
The district will install Imergy Power Systems' EPS30 vanadium redox flow batteries with a total capacity of 250 kW/1 MWh. Growing Energy Labs Inc. is supplying its energy management system.
The installation joins the aforementioned array, which is on the grounds of Las Positas College in Livermore, Calif. The existing facilities include an ice-based thermal storage system and 10 EV charging stations.
The microgrid project is part of the CEC's $26.5 million Electric Program Investment Charge program to develop a road map for local electricity generation and emergency preparedness. The project participants will also collaborate with Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and San Ramon, Calif.-based Olivine on using microgrids in support of demand response programs.
Imergy says its technology will be used to reduce peak power, balance energy loads and isolate individual applications for greater reliability and resiliency, among other applications.
‘Microgrids will become one of the primary ways consumers and businesses around the world get their electricity in the future,’ says Bill Watkins, CEO of Imergy Power Systems. ‘Solar, software and storage are making distributed energy possible in the same way that semiconductors, software applications and digital storage paved the way for distributed computing.’
For more information on how solar power and storage can be integrated into microgrids for local generation and grid support, visit the Hybrid Energy Innovations website here.