Texas Electric Cooperatives has partnered with Advanced Microgrid Solutions (AMS) to offer AMS services to its member cooperatives, and host an advanced energy storage system at its Master Distribution Center in Georgetown, Texas.
This partnership will allow TEC to offer its 75 member cooperatives preferred pricing for advanced energy storage systems and AMS services. The system that TEC will install at its own 160,000 square foot Master Distribution Center will reduce TEC's peak energy demand, while providing support to the electric grid.
It will also provide training and educational opportunities for all of TEC's member cooperative electric utilities. The project effectively demonstrates how utilities can use advanced energy storage to maximize efficiencies, reduce costs and enhance the reliability and security of their electric grids.
TEC Manufacturing & Distribution Services chief operating officer Johnny Andrews said: "Battery storage represents the next step in optimizing our use of renewable energy.
"We are excited to provide this technology to our members and to showcase how battery storage can maximize the efficiency of their electric grid.
"TEC is constantly looking for new and better technological solutions to support our members in their delivery of electricity."
Under the agreement, AMS will design, install and operate a 200 kWh advanced energy storage system at TEC's Georgetown Master Distribution Center, which supports electrical cooperatives across Texas and serves as TEC's classroom training facility.
AMS CEO Susan Kennedy said: "We are excited to be working with Texas Electric Cooperatives.
"TEC is a national leader in the cooperative electricity business, and this project will not just contribute to grid modernization and resiliency for its member agencies in Texas; it will serve as a tremendous learning opportunity for cooperatives serving rural areas across the US"
TEC and the country's not-for-profit, consumer-owned electric cooperatives are poised to lead this clean energy transition as they provide service in 47 states.
Nationwide, co-ops own and purchase nearly 6.7GW of renewable capacity for their 42 million customers. TEC's 75 member agencies serve 2 million homes and businesses in rural and suburban areas of Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico.
Texas is a trailblazer in renewable energy and the nation's leader in wind energy, with as much as 48% of electricity coming from wind during this last year. Texas is leading the way in the development of cost-effective, scalable and flexible renewable energy solutions for its energy users.
Energy storage placed at the point of consumption is an ideal technology to support these efforts, providing a firm, dispatchable, cost-effective resource that utilities can aggregate and deploy instantaneously to meet their most pressing needs.
With this strategic partnership, TEC not only furthers its commitment to its members to offer the latest in energy management, cost reduction, emergency generation and technology advancements, but also leads the nation's co-ops further into the clean energy future.