Greensmith Energy, a Wärtsilä Company, and American Electric Power (AEP) have agreed to install a 4 MW energy storage system integrated with the Buck and Byllesby hydroelectric power plants in southwest Virginia, USA. The integration of advanced energy storage and software with hydroelectric generation is seen to be a world’s first hybridized system of its kind to provide ancillary services.
The system, due to begin operating in the first quarter of 2018, will deliver PJM frequency regulation market (PJM=Pennsylvania, Jersey, Maryland power pool) one of the first new energy storage systems since the adoption of new frequency regulation signals and requirements for regulation service. Harnessing Greensmith’s GEMS software platform that offers multiple storage applications, the project will serve both of PJM’s frequency regulation markets, including traditional regulation known as RegA and dynamic regulation known as RegD.
“The advent and growth of hybridized power, enabled by the integration of intelligent energy storage, has always been a key part of our technology vision,” said Greensmith CEO John Jung. “Although we’ve delivered six grid-scale energy storage systems to the PJM market, this innovative hybrid project will see AEP raise the standard for hydroelectric use-cases globally. And the potential for hybridization is massive as hydroelectricity represents over 1,000 gigawatts of generation globally, roughly a sixth of the world’s total.”
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