Peter Key, Energy Biz December 1 2015
Key excerpts from the article:
“Three Washington state utilities are deploying a total of five cutting-edge systems that will be evaluated by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash. Three of the systems were constructed according to a set of standards designed to make utility-scale storage systems easier and cheaper to build, and two use a new type of battery system based on technology developed at the lab.
The utilities received a total of $14.3 million from the state’s Clean Energy Fund for the energy-storage projects and had to put up an equal amount themselves…The utilities that received the funds are Bellevue-based Puget Sound Energy, Spokane-based Avista Corp. and the Snohomish County Public Utility District, which is headquartered in Everett.
The Puget Sound Energy and Snohomish PUD projects use the Modular Energy Storage Architecture – or MESA – set of specifications and standards, which were developed by a group of utilities and their suppliers.
MESA is meant to solve a problem that often plagues early deployments of a technology, which is that each is treated uniquely, increasing the time and effort of doing it.
Utility-scale storage is expected to be big business in the coming decade. According to a forecast from Navigant Research, the market will exceed $2.5 billion in revenue by 2023.”
To read the full story click here: http://www.energybiz.com/article/15/12/mesa-vanadium-batteries-put-test-pacific-northwest