POWER Engineers Incorporated (POWER) applied state-of-the-art engineering expertise to a new battery energy storage system project, one of the largest such systems in operation in the western United States.
Imperial Irrigation District’s 30-megawatt, 20-megawatt-hour lithium-ion battery energy storage system, or BESS, began operating mid-October. Imperial is the third largest public power provider in California.
“Imperial’s project illustrates how a BESS can be deployed not only to bring renewable energy to the grid, but also to solve a variety of grid challenges while it responds to demand changes,” said Hector Esquer, POWER project manager. “Imperial’s energy storage system will aid grid flexibility, smooth out frequency variations and provide voltage support on Imperial’s network.”
Energy storage helps grid operators address imbalances caused by adding variable renewable resources to the utility’s grid. Energy storage also can provide spinning reserve and area control error correction functions in support of system operations for a balancing authority. A BESS also provides “black start” power restoration capabilities.
POWER’s services included technical analysis modeling at two sites to evaluate the potential effects of a BESS on Imperial’s and neighboring transmission systems. POWER assisted Imperial in determining the optimal BESS size and also recommended operating scenarios, such as solar generation smoothing, VAR support, black start capabilities and spinning reserve. Owner’s engineer services supported the successful design of the project. POWER also generated the BESS technical specifications for the request for proposal.
POWER Constructors, POWER’s subsidiary for design-build and other construction projects, served as construction monitor.
POWER brought to the project its considerable experience with energy storage systems, which are critical to the effective use of renewable energy. POWER also has extensive expertise with renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, geothermal and biomass. This expertise includes integrating renewable sources into microgrids, utility power grids and within regional transmission organizations across the country.
