A Washington-based utilities project using lithium-ion batteries has been unveiled in North America by Snohomish County Public Utility District (PUD).
It is the first battery storage system built using the Modular Energy Storage Architecture (MESA) – a non-proprietary set of specifications and standards developed by a consortium of electric utilities and technology suppliers.
The MESA project aims to develop standard electrical and communication interfaces to connect batteries, power converters and software components into modular energy storage systems (ESS).
GS Yuasa’s and Mitsubishi’s joint venture Lithium Energy Japan and LG Chem provided one lithium-ion battery each for the 2MW ESS.
Seattle-based 1Energy Systems supplied the MESA compliant system control software and integrated the complete ESS.
The project aims to improve grid reliability and the integration of renewable energy sources. It was partly bankrolled by a $7.3m investment by Washington State Clean Energy Fund.
A second project using multiple advanced vanadium flow battery technology from UniEnergy is set to be built at another PUD substation in the county later this year.
The PUD’s energy storage programme forges partnerships with major U.S. and international business partners, along with its principal partner 1Energy Systems, the architect of MESA software controls.