AES claims that 20MW of energy storage it deployed in the Dominican Republic just a few weeks before Hurricane Irma, assisted the island nation in keeping power supplies running even as devastation struck.
In late August, local subsidiary AES Dominicana commissioned two 10MW energy storage facilities based on AES Energy Storage’s Advancion platform, which incorporates lithium-ion batteries and forms the building blocks of the company’s grid-scale energy storage solutions. Both are able to store energy for 30 minutes duration.
Following the arrival of Hurrican Irma in the first weeks of September, Energy-Storage.News had asked AES how the Advancion arrays had coped during the extreme weather event. The company was not able to respond directly until it had collated some data and today issued a statement on the situation.
AES said the Andres and Los Mina DPP projects, both in the Santo Domingo region, “played a key role in maintaining grid stability” as both Irma and then Hurricane Maria struck. The two arrays are providing frequency control services to the grid, maintaining balance on the network as it adjusts to second-by-second mismatches in supply and demand. They also support the operation of the Republic’s interconnected electricity system, SENI.
Previously, this frequency regulation was provided by thermal plants running 24/7, but now power plants on the island can be run more efficiently, as the batteries absorb power and then discharge it as needed, quickly and cleanly. AES claims the 20MW of energy storage obviates the need for 60MW of thermal generation capacity to deliver the same level of service.
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