By Mohamed Kamaludeen, Consolidated Edison and Peggy Ip, Electric Power Research Institute
Last year was another record-breaking year for energy storage with deployments of more than 1,400 megawatts across the United States. In fact, deployments were so brisk that they surpassed the capacity from the previous year in just one quarter according to WoodMac.
From capacity, demand management, transmission and distribution deferral, ancillary services and renewable integration, energy storage is proving itself as a valuable and versatile asset.
In New York State, with its aggressive climate goals, energy storage will play an integral role in the transition to a clean energy future. The state’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) calls for 100 percent clean electricity by 2040, 3,000 MW of storage by 2030, 6,000 MW of solar by 2025, and 9,000 megawatts of offshore wind by 2035.
Without careful planning, the variability of so much large-scale renewable generation could place stress on the grid. But energy storage can help make it possible to successfully deploy all that renewable energy and maintain a resilient grid that can reliably serve customers. Among its other benefits, storage can help meet the challenges of the growing need for power while also accommodating the shifts in load resulting from widespread electrification.
The accelerating deployment and aggressive policy targets highlight the need for planning energy storage projects effectively and quickly.
Con Edison, the energy company that serves New York City and Westchester County, N.Y., has already begun. The company supports the state’s climate goals and is committed to leading the clean energy transition. For Con Edison, energy storage is key.
A Technology with Multiple Use Cases
To meet the challenges of the CLCPA, Con Edison identified Phase 1 and Phase 2 projects that would expand the amount of storage on its distribution system, and we believe those projects put us at the leading edge of industry transformation with a portfolio of energy storage solutions at the bulk and distribution levels.
The company recently reached an agreement with 174 Power Global to deploy a 100 MW/400 MWh, transmission-connected battery project at the site of a former fossil fuel plant in Astoria, Queens. The project will be one of the world’s larger battery storage projects to date in an urban setting, and the largest so far in New York State.
Con Edison is enabling distribution-connected energy storage on several fronts, including pairing the systems with other distributed energy resources (DER) and critical loads. The goal for each project is to increase the reliability and the resilience of the local network while proving a positive business case. Over time, the objective is to demonstrate that storage systems can be standard equipment at substations to enhance local system reliability, such as peak shaving, Volt/VAR optimizations, renewable energy integration, and auxiliary services.
Energy storage can provide additional value for utilities and their customers by participating in wholesale market services and producing revenues. For instance, Con Edison installed a 2-MW/11-MWh storage system in Ozone Park, Queens to help meet peak load in a 4-kV network. Con Edison has also begun developing a 7.5-MW/30-MWh storage system at its Fox Hills substation on Staten Island. The company is seeking to demonstrate that it can manage emerging duck curves due to increased PV, develop restricted sites in constrained territory, and potentially use the ESS (energy storage system) for market participation.
In an innovative demonstration project, Con Edison has placed 1-MW/1-MWh systems on customer properties on the North Shore of Staten Island and on City Island in the Bronx. This project with our partner GI Energy empowers Con Edison to select sites in areas where our electric-delivery system could use some relief at peak times. The customers receive lease payments for their space, Con Edison has the right to dispatch the batteries as needed, and the developer bids services from the batteries into the wholesale market. These systems provide peak load shaving, voltage support and frequency regulation.
Con Edison is enabling energy storage at a site in Brooklyn and trying to lower the interconnection hurdles by providing the land, along with electrical infrastructure, and offsetting the cost of interconnection. The site will also have EV quick-charging stations to provide significant operational value, grid benefits, and multiple value streams. The company is fostering higher penetration of DERs through the release of hosting capacity maps and our Non-Wires Solution (NWS) programs, allowing third parties to develop projects in zones identified with load constraints.
Value Stacking Challenges
The complexities of energy storage valuation and stacking grid services pose a challenge to broader energy storage deployment. The value streams and tariffs for energy storage systems on the grid can differ, depending on the location of the resource, the type of interconnection, and the incentive programs. When stacking multiple grid services, the operator must ensure that primary service takes priority, and manage potential conflicts of competing grid service.
A study with the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) is examining the benefits of energy storage systems in different configurations and business models in Con Edison territory. The five configurations the study is analyzing include storage systems of varying capacity, systems owned by utilities and third parties and systems located in front of the meter and behind the meter. One objective is to examine dispatch scenarios and their impact on revenue based on different control strategies, including peak shaving, charge restrictions, and dispatch constraints. Understanding different constraints and their impact on revenue will help illuminate operational considerations and limitations for operators.
Operation strategies that strike the balance between critical distribution services and valuable wholesale market participation will be the key to expanding the use of energy storage systems as New York creates a cleaner future. When the study is complete, the team will publish a publicly available white paper to summarize the results.
About the Authors
Peggy Ip is an Engineer Scientist in the Energy Storage and Distributed Generation Research Program at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). Her research focus is on system integration and deployment challenges, and grid services analysis of energy storage systems and fueled distributed generation. She is actively involved with many techno-economic analyses for customer-sited and grid scale energy storage projects. Peggy leads the collaborative efforts in Grid Integration through the Energy Storage Integration Council (ESIC) in addressing gaps to advance energy storage deployment. She received a M.S. in mechanical engineering from UCLA and B.S. in mechanical engineering from the UC San Diego.
Mohamed Kamaludeen is a Project Manager with over a decade of professional service in the electric power industry. His experience spans the breadth and depth of the electric system planning process including Engineering and Design, Forecasting, Sub-station Planning and Energy Storage. He leads the integration of Utility Scale battery systems into the distribution architecture and develops new business models to optimize benefits to the grid and customers. His portfolio of projects advances the utility’s stake in integrating energy storage to achieve New York State Clean Energy goals and the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) objectives. His professional and personal background affords him the technical and policy tools necessary for making a more resilient and resourceful grid.
Mohamed graduated from Clarkson University with a bachelor degree in Mechanical Engineering and later earned two masters degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Economics from the City College of New York. He is pursuing a PhD in Electrical Engineering and is on the Junior Board of Directors at Harlem Education Activity Fund (HEAF).
