Greensmith announced that it is seeing dramatic growth in the grid-scale energy storage market, with 23 MW worth of projects utilizing its GEMS energy storage software platform commissioned in 2014.
A Greensmith energy storage facility.
This growth in demand is being driven by utilities, renewable energy project developers, and other customers who are increasingly using energy storage for a variety of applications, including frequency regulation, capacity, ramp rate control, transmission and distribution deferral, and renewables smoothing, according to Greensmith.
This growth has placed Greensmith ahead of its 2014 goals. Highlights include:
- Commissioning 23 megawatts worth of projects in 2014
- Delivering 35 systems to 19 customers since the company’s inception
- Integration of 10 different batteries and 6 inverters/power control systems with Greensmith’s GEMS software platform
- The use of Greensmith’s GEMS software platform to support a diverse array of applications, including frequency regulation, grid stabilization and behind the meter storage
- Developing a new software licensing program
Sample projects that are deploying the Greensmith’s GEMS software platform include:
- A California utility which has deployed the platform at a 500 kilowatt (kW) /1.5 megawatt hour (MWh) storage project used for scale capacity and solar firming
- A commercial scale solar developer which has deployed the platform at a 75kW/150 kilowatt hour (kWh) storage project used for commercial and industrial energy management and solar firming
- A California utility which is deploying the platform for a 1.5MW/3.0MWh storage project used for transmission and distribution deferral
- A Virginia utility which is deploying the platform for a 50kW/120kWh storage project
The market for advanced batteries for utility-scale energy storage applications will grow from $164 million in 2014 to more than $2.5 billion in 2023, according to Navigant Research.
“While demand for grid-scale storage is growing, the challenges related to developing these highly specialized systems remains,” said John Jung, CEO of Greensmith. “The GEMS software platform provides customers with the intelligence and flexibility they need to make energy storage systems a versatile part of their operations, and not just pilot projects or assets with functionality that is limited to a single application.”
Software Platform Optimizes Energy Storage
The GEMS software platform integrates every piece of hardware in an energy storage system, including batteries and inverters. It then manages this hardware to optimize the storage system for application performance, longevity, and return on investment.
The GEMS software platform also increases flexibility in the design, deployment and use of grid-scale energy storage systems. The GEMS software platform is hardware agnostic, allowing users to mix and match multiple types and brands of batteries and other types of hardware in the same system, thereby lowering costs, avoiding vendor lock-in and improving the system’s overall return on investment.
In addition, energy storage systems running the GEMS software platform can be used for multiple applications. For example, because GEMS monitors and controls every piece of hardware and software in a storage system individually, the system can be used for demand response during one part of the day and then later used for grid balancing or Electric Vehicle (EV) charging later in the day.
This technology enables Greensmith’s customers to take a distributed approach to storage. The GEMS software platform provides them with the flexibility needed to deploy energy storage pods at various points on T&D networks, helping them lower the costs and risk of deployment while increasing the versatility and overall capabilities of the system.
Greensmith
www.greensmithenergy.com
Filed Under: Energy storage, News
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