Salt River Project has begun construction of a 10-MW battery-based energy storage project with AES Corp. in Chandler, Ariz.
The company secured the project, its first stand-alone energy storage project, to provide capacity during high peak demand periods. The utility also intends to use the project to learn about grid-scale battery storage operations in order to implement battery storage technology at a larger scale in future.
Fluence Energy will supply the four-hour duration energy storage solution and deliver its Advancion energy storage technology platform. Fluence is a Siemens AG and AES company, which provides global energy storage technology solutions and services.
"Energy storage is already providing a wealth of services to central Arizona's grid through other deployments, from supporting the growth of renewables to boosting reliability on transmission and distribution grids," SRP General Manager and CEO Mike Hummel said in a May 30 release. "This latest investment will add much-needed efficiency and value for our more than one million electric consumers."
Salt River Project said together AES and Fluence, it will deliver a long-lasting, reliable energy storage solution for central Arizona's power grid and its electric customers.
AES will provide Salt River Project with the 10-megawatt battery-based energy storage system under the 20-year power contract.
M.A. Mortenson will provide its engineering, procurement and construction services for the project.
While Salt River Project is discovering new energy storage project to enable the integration of more renewables for its electric service area, the state of Arizona is evaluating steps to achieve the U.S.'s largest energy storage target of 3,000 MW by 2030 and a clean peak standard.
