Origis Energy has contracted with Mitsubishi Power Americas to deliver three utility-scale battery energy storage system (BESS) projects totaling 150 MW / 600 MWh. The projects will be co-located with three Origis Energy photovoltaic solar facilities in the Southeast U.S. to reduce curtailment of excess solar generation which will enable greater efficiency and higher capacity of the sites.
Origis will use the Mitsubishi Power Emerald storage solution for the three projects, successively coming online over the next two years. Origis has pioneered large-scale solar in the Southeast, working with utilities, municipalities and electric cooperatives to deploy over 1.5 GW of operational and contracted projects in the region. The company’s U.S. total for operational and contracted solar and BESS projects are over 4 GW. Energy storage enables Origis to add grid services to renewable energy generation. Consequently, Origis has 2.3 GWh of BESS projects contracted or in negotiation with 13.7 GWh currently being developed.
“Storage of renewably generated power is an increasingly important grid asset,” says Kenneth Kim, vice president of engineering and strategy planning at Origis Energy. “By adding the BESS solution to these facilities, we increase the value of the asset, adding enhanced grid solutions to clean, cost-effective solar power. We thank Mitsubishi Power for their collaboration on these projects, creating long-term benefits for our customers.”
The BESS projects will employ Mitsubishi Power’s Emerald Integrated Plant Controller – an Energy Management System (EMS) and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system – that instructs the BESS when to charge and deploy, monitors status, sends alarms and alerts, and enables long-term data storage.
“The Emerald storage solution technology we’re delivering for Origis follows rigorous NERC CIP and IEC 62443 Security Development Lifecycle Process policy and processes aligned to industry best practices,” states Alejandro Schnakofsky, vice president of global strategy for energy storage solutions at Mitsubishi Power Americas. “It is imperative in everything we do to protect energy systems and operators with the strongest level of cybersecurity possible.”
