David Wagman, in a 16 March 2017 article at the Institute of Electrical
and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) web site, reports on how a small
33,000-member electric power cooperative on the Hawaiian island of
Kauai have deployed a 13MW solar array combined with a total of
272 Tesla Powerpack battery energy storage units that can store 52 MWh.
Quote:
Originally Posted by David Wagman, IEEE
Under terms of the deal with Tesla, KIUC will buy power for 20 years at the rate of 13.9 cents per kilowatt-hour (KWh). The 52 MWh battery system is design to feed up to 13 MW of electricity onto the grid. Doing so is expected to shave the amount of conventional power generation needed to meet the evening peak, which lasts from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.
KIUC President and CEO, David Bissellsays the cost is lower than that incurred to buy power from diesel-fueled power plants and is below the charge paid by electricity customers elsewhere in the state.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by David Wagman, IEEE
KIUC had to address two challenges: supply intermittency (for example, when clouds pass over solar farms) and lack of firm power (caused by uncertainty over how much power will be generated on any given day).
Supply intermittency is being managed through batteries, governor tuning, and increased spinning reserve, Bissell says. The lack of firm power is managed by not retiring the cooperative’s conventional generating units.
Bissell says that KIUC’s overall reliability has not been impacted negatively by its increased use of renewables. Instead, he says that since adding solar and biomass generation KIUC has actually experienced better reliability. For the past three years, the cooperative has achieved a reliability factor in excess of 99.9%, Bissell says.
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Article here :-
http://spectrum.ieee.org/energywise/...to-store-solar