Tesla Batteries Integral In New, Energy-Saving Water Utility Project

The largest water utility in Orange County, CA, is trying a new approach to energy by relying on efficiencies provided by Tesla batteries.

As Paul Cook, the agency’s general manager, told News Deeply: “We move a lot of water, we treat a lot of water and that takes energy.”

That’s why Irvine Ranch Water District (IRWD) is teaming with Advanced Microgrid Solutions (AMS) to create the nation’s largest energy storage project at a public water agency. The effort will benefit the entire region, News Deeply reported.

“IRWD expects to see cost savings of more than $500,000 per year on its energy bill with the new project,” Electrek reported.

The project represents a “a new frontier in the energy-water nexus,” according to the report. "The interdependence between water and energy is called the energy-water nexus. And while the relationship can be mutually constraining, it also presents an opportunity to address both energy and water issues together, because conserving one leads to conservation of the other," Earth Magazine reported.

Irvine Ranch Water District is among the water stakeholders seeking opportunities in this arena. Its project is based around a 7 megawatt (MW) and 34 megawatt-hour (MWh) network.

The network “will utilize Tesla batteries to store power at 11 of Irving Ranch Water District’s (IRWD) most energy-intensive points in its operations — including three water treatment plants, six pumping stations, a deep water aquifer treatment plant and a groundwater desalter facility,” the report said.

“IRWD’s project signals a growing opportunity for water agencies to utilize energy storage, not just to reduce the costs of their own operations, but to play a larger role in helping to reduce peak demand on the grid, and thereby cut the need for more fossil-fuel consuming power plants,” the report said.

A resilient energy supply is fundamental to proper function of a water utility. Part of the magic of this approach, Cook said, “is the technology that enables a ‘bumpless’ transition from grid to battery and back to grid without having any interruption in operations,” News Deeply reported.

“It gets us to where we can be more self-reliant,” Cook said.

Susan Kennedy, cofounder and CEO of AMS, said other water utilities are investigating this solution, noting the unique energy storage needs in an industry whose “facilities need lots of power and can’t be easily turned off during peak pricing times,” News Deeply reported.

“The water industry so uniquely needs energy storage,” she said. “It’s wasteful and expensive for water agencies to navigate electricity tariffs.”