Lockheed Martin is to provide a 2MWh GridStar lithium energy storage system for a microgrid project in Chicago.
The Bronzeville community microgrid project, funded by the US Department of Energy, features a lithium-ion BESS coupled with solar photovoltaics to serve as backup power for critical facilities— including the Chicago Police Department.
Illinois electric utility and microgrid project operator, ComEd, said the project aims to study “how large amounts of solar PV and batteries can be integrated into a microgrid”.
The project— said to be the first utility-operated microgrid cluster in the US, will be based on the campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology and is scheduled for completion in 2019.
Frank Armijo, vice-president of Lockheed Martin Energy, said: “Improving grid resiliency and reliability is crucial to the future of a secure, efficient energy supply.”
BBB reported in March that Lockheed would supply 12MWh of its GridStar systems for 12 solar-plus-storage projects in North Carolina, together with Cypress Creek Renewables.
Lockheed also plans to launch a flow battery energy storage system within “little more than a year”, based on what it said would be a new electrochemistry, comprising “engineered electrolytes”,
