Battery Project Supports Renewable Energy At Authority
A new battery energy storage system is now online at the Atlantic County Utilities Authority’s wastewater treatment plant in Atlantic City, N.J.
The system captures up to one megawatt hour of energy produced by the site’s 7.5 megawatt wind farm and 500 kilowatts from solar panels, storing it to be used when needed. It was formally opened with a ceremony held April 16.
Viridity Energy Solutions Inc., an Ormat Company, will own and operate the battery system for 20 years. The system combines advanced energy storage with Viridity’s VPower energy management software. The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities awarded a $417,000 grant to help fund the project.
During times of high energy demand, the battery system will help power the authority’s operations, thereby lowering the cost of electric supply at the wastewater facility. The battery system will also enable the authority to be an ancillary support to the region’s electric grid, creating an additional revenue stream for its operations.
Using energy from the battery storage system is an emissions-free energy choice, and goes hand-in-hand with the authority’s other renewable energy installments, which also include several electric vehicle charging stations.
“The Atlantic County Utilities Authority continues to be innovative in adopting onsite green energy technology to lower its energy costs. Working together with this authority, Viridity is installing this system at no cost to the utility,” said Mack Treece, CEO of Viridity. “Viridity’s battery storage provides customers with benefits including reducing peak usage to lower energy costs, providing power back-up and power quality and assisting the utility grid in maintaining its performance.”
Viridity was the general contractor and led the engineering procurement and construction efforts on the project. Johnson Controls provided the battery storage system, RETTEW served as the design-build manager and Calvi Electric was the electrical contractor.
“Battery storage technology is a critical component to developing a smart grid; it has the potential to completely revolutionize power generation,” said Rick Dovey, President of the authority. “Superstorm Sandy opened our eyes and made us realize we need to become resilient and able to operate without losing power.”
While the authority has invested in several renewable energy options, renewable power is limited by its intermittence. The battery storage project helps store electricity generated when it’s not needed and then draw on that energy at times when it is. The system will help balance the supply and demand of the region’s electric grid.
About Viridity Energy Solutions Inc.
Viridity Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ormat Technologies, Inc. is a leading battery storage and distributed generation, demand response, and demand management solution provider. Through its unique, flexible and turn-key VPower software and services platform, Viridity maximizes energy revenue and savings for its customers. Viridity empowers customers to cut their electricity prices through best-in-class proprietary peak shaving algorithms, and its market leading VPower optimization software, that ensures the best economic return for each KW of flexible energy load, including generating revenue for customers in the wholesale energy markets. Viridity is a market leader in advanced distributed energy resources (DER) with a specific focus on battery storage and by combining the skills of Viridity with its parent company Ormat, Viridity brings to market the unique ability to provide a broad, end-to-end DER solution to customers either as a service, with no capital outlay by the customer, or as a sale.
Information provided in this press release may contain statements relating to current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections about future events that are "forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements generally relate to Viridity's plans, objectives and expectations for future operations and are based upon its management's current estimates and projections of future results or trends. Actual future results may differ materially from those projected as a result of certain risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, see "Risk Factors" as described in Viridity's parent company, Ormat Technologies, Inc.'s, Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 1, 2017.
These forward-looking statements are made only as of the date hereof, and Viridity undertakes no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
For more information, visit www.viridityenergy.com.
About the Atlantic County Utilities Authority
The Atlantic County Utilities Authority is responsible for enhancing the quality of life through the protection of waters and lands from pollution by providing responsible waste management services. The Authority is an environmental leader and will continue to use new technologies, innovations, and employee ideas to provide the highest quality and most cost effective environmental services.
About Johnson Controls
Johnson Controls is a global diversified technology and multi industrial leader serving a wide range of customers in more than 150 countries. Our 120,000 employees create intelligent buildings, efficient energy solutions, integrated infrastructure, and next generation transportation systems that work seamlessly together to deliver on the promise of smart cities and communities. Our commitment to sustainability dates back to our roots in 1885, with the invention of the first electric room thermostat. We are committed to helping our customers win and creating greater value for all our stakeholders through strategic focus on our buildings and energy growth platforms. For more information, visit http://www.johnsoncontrols.com.
About RETTEW
RETTEW, ranked on Engineering News-Record’s 2017 list of top design firms, began providing civil engineering and surveying services in 1969. Today RETTEW has about 350 employees and 11 offices located throughout the United States providing a wide range of traditional engineering and innovative design-build solutions for our clients in the public and private sector. For more information, visit www.rettew.com.
Source: RETTEW