Primus Power has won a contract to supply a 250kW 1MWh zinc-bromine flow battery to a Department of Defence Marine Corps Air Station in California.
The project is part of the DoD’s Environmental Security Technology Certification Programme’s Zinc Bromide Flow Battery Installation for Islanding and Backup Power project.
The flow battery will be connected to an existing photovoltaic system to form a microgrid to power the military base. The microgrid system will provide backup power to the base in the event of mains power failure as well load shifting services at peak demand times.
The system will be installed mid-2014 and is part of the DoD’s plan to have greater power independence at military camps by 2017. The Department is running the Environmental Security Technology Certification Programme to demonstrate and validate environmental technology which assists in bringing new technologies to market.
The base at Mirimar, California has used renewably generated fuel as an energy source since 2012 when methane-powered generators were commissioned. Energy managers hope to make the airbase self sufficient for energy.
