Commercial, Distributed Energy Resources, Energy Storage, Utilities, Distributed Generation, Solar  -  December 11, 2017

Massachusetts awards $20M in energy storage grants

A proposal from Advanced Microgrid Systems to install energy storage systems at two Walmart locations in Massachusetts is one of 26 projects that have been awarded funding totaling over $20 million from the state's Department of Energy Resources. 

As part of the state's Energy Storage Initiative, which aims to have at least 200 MWh of energy storage deployed by 2020, the department has granted the funding across various use applications from residential to behind the meter C&I and grid-level. 

The Walmart projects, as proposed, would be undertaken by AMS and National Grid and paired with software controls, according to a summary of the projects released by the Massachusetts DOER. One of the projects would be also be paired with existing solar PV. The active demand management system would reduce peak load and provide seasonal, dispatchable peak demand management, according to the proposal. 

Projects being undertaken by Tesla, General Electric and EnerNOC were also among those to receive funding; Tesla's commercial application is for a lithium-ion battery storage system at the Wynn Boston Harbor hotel and casino. Previous reports on the property's energy systems indicated that the energy storage project will complement two cogeneration plants, rooftop solar and LED lighting. 

The Boston Business Journal on Dec. 7 quoted DOER commissioner Judith Judson as saying about the state initiative: 

In essence, we have an electric grid that was designed without storage. It was designed to have as much infrastructure that is needed to run in the top 15 minutes of a year. We've set up a system and grid and rules around an industry that didn't really have storage available. Now that do we need to rethink things, and that's why these demonstrations are so valuable.

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