Prudent’s VRB energy storage system will be used to improve the efficiency of an existing Advanced Energy Recovery System located on Gills’ 14-acre property that turns daily onion waste into biogas, which in turn feeds into two 300kW fuel cells to produce heat and power.
The VRB-ESS, which will provide power on demand for maximum periods of six hours, equivalent to 3.6MWh of capacity, will also supply the Gills facility with emergency backup power and reduce the company’s need to draw electricity from the grid when rates are highest.
Prudent Energy Services that will begin construction on the Gills project by the end of the year using proprietary system components from its manufacturing facility will build own and operate the VRB-ESS in return for a share of the energy savings resulting from the project.
Prudent Energy senior vice president Jeff Pierson said that with its first megawatt-class VRB energy storage project in California, Prudent Energy will look toward similar projects in the US that will expand renewable energy facilities and reduce electricity costs.
