San Francisco, CA –

Last week, the Snohomish County Public Utility District (PUD) and 1Energy Systems welcomed Washington State Gov. Jay Inslee to dedicate the first battery storage system built using Modular Energy Storage Architecture (MESA).

See full press release here.

From the release:

The MESA system provides a standard, non-proprietary and scalable approach to energy storage. The PUD’s energy storage program, which forges partnerships with major U.S. and international business partners, will include two large-scale lithium ion batteries, one built by Mitsubishi and GS Yuasa and a second by LG Chem. Both lithium ion batteries will utilize a Parker Hannifin Power Conversion System.  Later this year, the PUD will deploy multiple advanced vanadium flow batteries at a second PUD substation, which will be built by UniEnergy Technologies, based in Mukilteo, Wash.

“This project demonstrates how MESA technology standards, pioneered in Washington, will accelerate global innovation in energy storage,” said Darcy Wheeles, Program Director of the MESA Standards Alliance. “Standards-based products make it easier and less expensive for utilities to control and optimize energy storage and integrate renewable power sources with the grid.”

The collaboration will produce state-of-the-art solutions, bringing together major equipment and software companies to establish the appropriate industry standards and interfaces. The open standards approach is much different than other energy storage projects in the past and is expected to result in the expanded application of plug-and-play type energy storage systems to help solve the expanding needs of today’s electric grid, which depends more on intermittent resources such as wind and solar.

Project Partners

  • 1Energy Systems, principal partner and architect of MESA software controls
  • Alstom Grid, supplier of the PUD’s EMS, SCADA & DMS platforms
  • LG Chem, supplier of lithium ion battery
  • GS Yuasa International Ltd. and Mitsubishi International Corporation, manufacturer and supplier of lithium ion battery respectively
  • UniEnergy Technologies, supplier of vanadium flow battery
  • Parker Hannifin, provider of the MESA-compliant power conversion system
  • University of Washington, research expertise in power systems and computer science
  • Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, research expertise in power systems