Engie North America and Holyoke Gas & Electric (HG&E) are to develop a 3MW energy storage system at the 5.76MW Mt Tom solar plant in Massachusetts.
Green Charge, an Engie subsidiary, will operate the facility, which will be used to optimise intermittent solar energy and reduce utility capacity costs for HG&E.
The storage plant is expected to be completed by April 2018, with the Mt Tom plant having come online in January this year.
Engie North America president and chief executive Frank Demaille said: “Solar and energy storage are keys to a low-carbon, low-cost energy future and HG&E is taking the lead by moving forward proactively to deploy what we see as the future for the energy industry.”
HG&E has also received $475,000 from Massachusetts’ Peak Demand Management Program to analyse the storage system.
UMass Amherst will quantify the peak reduction value to the distribution system, accounting for equipment value, cost reduction potential and overall project data.
The goal of the grant is to provide research and recommendations on the future distribution system value of battery storage devices throughout Massachusetts, Engie said.
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