Brandeis University is launching a new energy storage project that is projected to save the campus upwards of $50,000 annually in electricity costs.
The Massachusetts university is partnering with AMS and FirstLight Power to install and operate a 780-kWh battery-based energy storage system that will connect with the school’s electrical power system. According to Brandeis, large enterprises like college campuses typically pay variable rates for electricity that are set in part by supply and demand – the more demand for electricity, the more the utility charges. By charging overnight when the price of electricity is at its lowest, the battery will be able to send electricity into Brandeis’ system during the day when prices peak – enabling the university to buy less electricity at the most expensive times.
Increasing Use of Energy Storage
Energy storage installations around the world will multiply exponentially, from a modest 9GW/17GWh deployed as of 2018 to 1,095GW/2,850GWh by 2040, according to the latest forecast from BloombergNEF (BNEF).
This 122-fold boom of stationary energy storage over the next two decades will require $662 billion of investment, according to BNEF estimates. It will be made possible by further sharp declines in the cost of lithium-ion batteries, on top of an 85% reduction in the 2010-18 period.
And in national news, energy storage deployments in the United States during the first quarter of 2019 were up 232% year-over-year, Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewable’s latest US Energy Storage Monitor shows. The market saw 148.8 MW deployed in Q1 of this year.
Each quarter, Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables and the Energy Storage Association (ESA) gather data on US energy storage deployments, prices, policies, regulations, and business models. This information goes into the report.
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