PHOENIX–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Arizona Public Service (APS) is bringing battery-based energy storage to the desert through a 4-megawatt (MW) energy storage agreement with AES Energy Storage. The pair of 2-MW AES Advancion® energy storage arrays, which will provide enough storage capacity to power 1,000 homes, will be deployed as part of the APS Solar Partner Program (SPP) and represent AES’ first installation in Arizona.
APS’s Solar Partner Program studies the use of smart inverters and energy storage to examine how best to integrate solar onto the grid in areas with a high penetration of solar while still maintaining reliability for customers. Through SPP, more than 1,500 customers had photovoltaic rooftop solar panels, totaling 10 MW, installed on their homes at no charge, and receive a $30 monthly bill credit for the next 20 years for their participation. The information APS gains from this study will help craft what the future of renewable energy integration looks like for utilities across the country.
“The best renewable energy is the type a customer never thinks about. A light goes on, a load of towels gets washed and life goes on as reliably as ever before, all powered by the sun,” said Scott Bordenkircher, APS’s director of technology innovation. “This is the future APS looks toward as it studies energy storage.”
The two Advancion battery arrays will be installed in Surprise and Buckeye, which have a total of 120 SPP customers and a high penetration of solar. The batteries will deliver energy to customers at the time of day when electricity is in the greatest demand and is most expensive. By bringing energy storage to these areas, APS can maintain reliable service for solar customers, even when the sun is down and solar panels are no longer producing power.
APS anticipates Arizona’s energy needs will be approximately 25 percent higher by 2025. The company plans to meet 50 percent of that growth with renewable energy and energy efficiency. Through SPP and other groundbreaking pilot programs, APS is taking the lead in Arizona’s deployment of energy storage, advanced inverters, and other controllable resources to manage peak demand better, minimize CO2 emissions, and solve renewable integration challenges for the benefit of all of APS’s customers.
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