Charging network Electrify America is at the forefront of a new trend: installing battery energy storage systems (BESS) at DC fast charging stations to manage energy costs and reduce grid stress. Now the company has unveiled its first megawatt-level BESS.
Battery energy storage, with or without local renewable generation (solar panels) acts as a buffer between charging stations and the grid. This could help operators avoid expensive demand charges imposed by local utilities and could also make it possible to deploy fast chargers in more remote areas where adding additional grid capacity is difficult or impossible.
EA installed a megawatt-level BESS, along with a solar canopy, at its station in Baker, California. This location was chosen due to its remote location and utility capacity constraints. The BESS has a capacity of 1.5 MW / 3 MWh and the solar canopy has a potential capacity of 66 kW. The Baker station expansion includes the addition of four new individual chargers, bringing the total to twelve, some with a capacity of 350 kW.
“Deploying megawatt-level energy storage is the latest example of how we’re continually innovating to address infrastructure challenges and meet today’s charging needs,” said Jigar Shah, head of energy services at Electrify America . “As we expand the use of such solutions to more of our charging stations and also to our medium- and heavy-duty electricity customers, we are able to enable continuous electrification of transportation even with utility capacity constraints.”
“To put that in perspective, the energy storage system at Baker, when fully charged, can provide enough energy for an average household for more than three months,” Shah added.
Electrify America now has a total of over 30 megawatts of installed energy storage at over 150 locations. In California, 50 charging stations combined with energy storage make up the largest virtual power plant (VPP) in operation that can shift energy use to off-peak hours in the wholesale energy market of the California Independent System Operator, CAISO.
source: Electrify America
