The North America arm of French multinational power company Engie has confirmed plans to install the “largest utility scale” battery storage system in the US state of Massachusetts.
Engie said the 3MW/6MWh Li-ion battery system will be installed on a 5.76MW solar farm— built by Engie North America subsidiary Green Charge on the site of the former coal-fired Mt. Tom Power Station in Holyoke.
Green Charge will operate the facility following installation of the battery system, which is expected by April 2018.
Engie said electricity produced from the facility will be stored in the energy storage system and released to the municipally-owned Holyoke Gas & Electric utility as required to meet local and regional peak load periods.
Massachusetts has set a 200MWh energy storage target to be achieved by 2020— supported by a $10 million commitment to study, develop and encourage storage deployment.
Last August, wind farm developer Deepwater Wind unveiled proposals for what it said would be the world’s largest combined offshore wind and energy storage project off the coast of Massachusetts.