Energy Efficiency, Energy Storage, Microgrids  -  October 25, 2019

Michigan utility pilots battery storage project

Consumers Energy recently partnered with Sunverge, a Distributed Energy Resource control and aggregation platform, on a project to deploy its behind-the-meter platform with a Consumers Energy residential battery storage pilot.

The effort was made in an attempt to modernize Michigan’s electric grid and develop clean energy in the state. Consumers Energy, a subsidiary of CMS Energy is the largest energy provider in Michigan.

The pilot project location in Michigan’s Grand Rapids area was chosen through an evaluation by Sunverge of Consumer Energy’s distributions circuits to identify grid locations suitable to test the potential benefits and value from behind the meter battery storage.

“We are conducting this pilot to test and measure how aggregated battery storage may have the potential to offer benefits to Michigan’s electric grid and our customers,” Ryan Kiley, executive director of product development for Consumers Energy, said in a statement. “The Sunverge platform’s ability to co-optimize grid services is key to our decision to work with them. In this pilot, we are testing to understand the different values that batteries could provide to the overall grid, such as potential investment deferral, resiliency and reliability, while also providing backup of critical loads for pilot participants.”

Consumers Energy has previously set a goal to generate 40% of their energy from renewable sources by 2040. This is past year, they have installed their first combined rooftop solar array and battery storage system and began operation of a 1 MW battery project at Western Michigan University.

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