CLASS OF 2015
WORLD-GENERATION FEBRUARY/MARCH 2015 V.27 #1
13
WORLD-GEN: HOW DID S&C ADDRESS
FERC’S ORDER 755?
Dan Girard:
S&C is tapping our vast
experience in designing and deploying
energy storage systems to develop solu-
tions for fast regulation that meet each
ISO’s technical requirements, and maxi-
mize the benefits that can be obtained from
the new payment compensation structure
mandated by FERC Order 755. While PJM
was the first ISO to establish a frequency
regulation market structure that is well-suit-
ed for energy storage resources, S&C has
been actively engaged with utilities, other
ISO’s, and other stakeholders to establish
additional markets. For example, we have
been talking to MISO for over a year about
the benefits of a fast frequency regulation
market, and they are now moving to set-up
a new market soon.
In October 2014 we installed a 150-kW
demonstration energy storage system that
provides fast-response frequency regulation
for the PJM market at our global headquar-
ters in Chicago. The system is providing
real and practical data on the technical and
financial performance of energy storage
systems, providing frequency regulation
service under FERC Order 755. We are
using this data to improve and advance our
services and components for energy stor-
age systems. We welcome customers and
industry professionals to see how we are
addressing FERC Order 755.
WORLD-GEN: IS ENERGY STORAGE THE
SOLUTION FOR PROVIDING FREQUENCY
REGULATION? ARE THERE OTHER SOLU-
TIONS?
Dan Girard:
Yes. Although energy
storage is not the only method available for
frequency regulation, it is the only one
capable of balancing power supply and
demand instantaneously, i.e., in millisec-
onds rather than tens of minutes. It is also
the only solution that can be combined with
additional applications, e.g. islanding, peak
shaving, renewable integration, etc.
Numerous reports from DOE national labo-
ratories have identified electricity storage
as one of the best methods for regulating
frequency and increasing grid stability.
Other methods for providing frequency
regulation are adjusting the output of power
plants (ramping up and down) and demand
response and generator inertia; but these
solutions are not as accurate or fast-respond-
ing as energy storage resources, which lim-
its their value in fast-response applications.
WORLD-GEN: HOW MANY HOURS OF ENER-
GY STORAGE HAS S&C CONNECTED,
WHERE ARE THEY AND WHAT’S S&C’S
PERCENTAGE OF THE WORLD’S BATTERY
ENERGY STORAGE CAPACITY?
Dan Girard:
S&C has connected 146
MWh of energy storage and is responsible
for 20 percent of the world’s battery energy
storage capacity. Our projects are or will be
located in USA, Canada, UK, and Australia.
WORLD-GEN: HOW CAN ENERGY STORAGE
HELP IMPROVE PLANT PERFORMANCE?
Dan Girard:
In the case of power
plants, the spinning reserve requirements
of electric power systems lead to power
generation units running below rated val-
ues, which increases fuel and water con-
sumption and CO2 emissions. Energy stor-
age can help improve the performance of
power plants and thus increase overall effi-
ciency of the power system by accommo-
dating some of the spinning reserve
requirements. This functionality is well
remunerated in some ancillary services
markets, representing a source of revenue
for the owners of energy storage facilities
providing spinning reserves.
In the case of industrial plants, energy
storage can preserve plant performance
during costly power outages and power
quality disturbances, the former by means
of an islanding application, and the latter as
a UPS. Energy storage can also help reduce
the demand charges of industrial plants by
reducing the peak demand (peak shaving).
WORLD-GEN: PLEASE GIVE EXAMPLES
VALIDATINGTHE BENEFITS OF ENERGY
STORAGE FOR INTEGRATING RENEWABLES.
Dan Girard:
The first U.S. application
of batteries as a direct wind energy storage
device was implemented by S&C for Xcel
Energy in 2009. The battery installation is
adjacent and connected to a nearby 11-MW
wind farm owned by Winwind Energy, LLC.
S&C installed a sodium-sulfur battery along
with the S&C PureWave® Storage
Management System (SMS), our utility
grade power conversion system. The sys-
tem is able to store about 7.2 MWh of elec-
tricity, with a charge/discharge capacity of
1-MW. When fully charged, the sodium-sul-
fur battery is able to power about
500 homes for over seven hours. When the
wind blows, the batteries are charged;
when the wind calms down, the batteries
supplement the power flow. The project is
located in Beaver Creek, MN, about
30 miles east of Sioux Falls, SD.
• The PNM Prosperity Energy Storage
Project is the nation’s first utility-scale grid-
tied solar energy storage system. A total of
2,158 solar PV panels producing up to 500
kW are adjacent to the S&C PureWave
SMS®, which is integrated in to two differ-
ent types of lead acid batteries. The two dif-
ferent types of lead-acid batteries are
designed to collect and store the sun’s ener-
gy during peak production times and dis-
patch it when production dips due to cloud
cover or fading daylight. The first type is an
advanced lead-acid battery that has been
Director, Renewable Energy and Energy Storage
Business Development
S&C Electric Company
DAN GIRARD
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