US startup Eos Energy Storage (Eos) has been awarded $2.1m by the California Energy Commission for the demonstration of its grid-scale battery system.
The demonstration of the so-called Aurora zinc-air energy storage system will be located at Pacific Gas & Electric’s (PG&E) smart grid research centre in San Ramon, California.
The containerised DC battery system can provide 1MW for four hours of continuous discharge to shave system peaks and defer costly transmission and distribution upgrades.
PG&E’s smart grid lab will install and test an AC energy storage system, which integrates Eos’s Aurora DC battery, ETM Electromanic’s power electronics and Stem’s intelligent software, featuring real-time data analytics and controls.
“We’ve developed an energy storage solution designed specifically to meet the requirements of California’s utilities and industrial users,” said Eos vice president of business development Philippe Bouchard. “At a price of $160 per kWh, we believe our batteries will compete with gas peaking plants and copper wire to provide both peak generation and infrastructure benefits,” he added.
The project will test Eos’s Aurora product as the company ramps up manufacturing to deliver MW-scale batteries in 2016.
The funding is part of California’s Electric Program Investment Charge for grid-level advanced energy storage technology solutions.
