ESS, the Oregon-based energy storage company, announced on Monday that commissioning of six iron-flow battery storage units for Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) has been completed. SMUD is the sixth largest community-owned electricity provider in the US.
ESS will deliver up to 200 MW/2 GWh of iron-flow long-duration energy storage systems to Sacramento. This corresponds to an expected reduction of 284,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually, it said. No financial details were disclosed.
“SMUD is on a bold journey to eliminate all carbon emissions from our power supply by 2030 without compromising our world class reliability and rates that are consistently among the lowest in California,” said Paul Lau, CEO & General Manager of SMUD.
The storage solution chosen by SMUD allows up to 12 hours of flexible energy supply. SMUD has set a goal of reaching zero carbon in its electricity production by 2030.
ESS has a solid background in energy technology, renewable power, fuel cells, electrochemistry and advanced material science. The Energy Warehouse solution for energy storage is based on iron and salt. ESS says this is a more sustainable and less toxic alternative to zinc, vanadium and lithium-ion batteries.
ESS claims that its iron-flow chemistry will deliver up to 25 years of operations without any capacity fade or material degradation. Iron-flow batteries should also offer the lowest cost per kWh compared to other 12 hours discharge systems, according to ESS.
