ENERGY STORAGE

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power told Public Power Current that it recognizes the benefits of green hydrogen as a “power-to-gas” long-duration energy storage solution, through the use of electrolyzers, a system that uses electricity to break water into hydrogen and oxygen in a process called electrolysis. LADWP was asked to provide additional details on where things currently stand in terms of LADWP’s possible pursuit of green hydrogen for storage. As a purchaser of power produced by the Intermountain Power Project (IPP), LADWP is involved in installing two, 420 MW each, combined cycle generating units at IPP that will be capable of using hydrogen fuel (blended with natural gas) when placed in service in July 2025. The hydrogen will be produced using renewable energy and electrolyzers, and then stored in salt caverns for long-duration energy storage that can store and provide a seasonal supply of hydrogen, LADWP officials noted. LADWP does not plan to be directly involved in the production of green hydrogen in the Los Angeles area at this time, but it will work with energy developers to implement green hydrogen projects to provide grid reliability and a zero carbon energy source. LADWP officials said that its strategic long-term resource plan includes options for eventually purchasing green hydrogen from the market to spur development of green hydrogen capacity in the Los Angeles area.

The utility believes this technology is necessary to ensure the power system remains resilient during emergency events, such as an earthquake, wildfire, or other situations when clean dispatchable generation capacity may be necessary to maintain grid reliability and resiliency as it transitions to 100% clean energy. LADWP officials said the utility is looking at a variety of energy storage technologies as well as green hydrogen as its transition to a 100% clean energy future.

The officials said the utility will need energy storage to mitigate the intermittent generation challenge posed by renewable resources (variable wind and solar) and to provide resources for periods of low renewable generation, high energy demand periods, and loss of generation and/or transmission lines to maintain grid reliability and resiliency. LADWP officials point out that there are trade-offs with different technologies: Batteries are limited in their ability to store large quantities of energy economically and shift the energy beyond the daily or hourly timeframe. Pumped hydro is limited by location (it is challenging to find new sites for large hydroelectric plants) and is constrained by water availability, the officials noted. Green hydrogen offers the potential for long-duration energy storage that uses excess renewables available in the spring when electricity demand is low to produce hydrogen for use in the summer when electricity demand is high — referred to as seasonal storage, they said. Another benefit is that, in some cases, the existing power generating units can be modified to use green hydrogen. As the green hydrogen economy scales up, LADPW expects that it will become a viable, low-cost solution for seasonal energy storage that offers the flexibility to decarbonize the electric grid and other sectors of the economy.

In early January, Florida public power utility Orlando Utilities Commission said it will explore deployment of a long-duration energy storage facility as a way in which to help achieve the utility’s net-zero carbon emission goals. The facility will be provided by Malta Inc. Malta’s storage technology converts excess electricity into thermal energy that is stored in salt and coolant. When needed, the plant regenerates gigawatt hours of electricity for residential and commercial use.

The Malta facility would be situated at OUC’s Indian River Plant in Brevard County on Florida’s East Coast. Malta’s more than 100-megawatt utility-scale system provides more hours of energy storage than lithium-ion batteries and could provide energy storage diversity for OUC. The increased duration facility has the potential to help OUC ensure grid reliability despite the variable nature of clean and renewable energy resources like solar.

Another public power utility pursuing long-duration energy storage technology is the New York Power Authority. In April 2021, NYPA signed an agreement with Zinc8 Energy Solutions Inc. and the University at Buffalo for the planned deployment of Zinc8’s zinc-air energy storage system, marking a first demonstration of a long-duration use in New York State and a development that could support further integration of renewable power sources into the electric grid. In January 2022, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that Zinc8 will relocate its $68 million manufacturing facility and U.S. headquarters to Kingston, N.Y. Zinc8’s technology has been developed around the utilization of zinc as the anode fuel, which is expected to offer advantages over other metals due to its high energy density, abundant availability, low cost, and ease of storage and handling. When the system is delivering power, the zinc particles are combined with oxygen drawn from the surrounding air. When the system is recharging, zinc particles are regenerated, and oxygen is returned to the surrounding air. The regenerative system does not require fuel replacement and offers scalable energy capacity through the simple introduction of additional fuel tanks.

In early February, WEC Energy Group, a Wisconsinbased investor-owned utility, announced that the company will lead a pilot project at its Valley Power Plant in Milwaukee to test a new form of long-duration energy storage. WEC Energy Group is collaborating with the Electric Power Research Institute and CMBlu Energy, the developer and manufacturer of the long-duration battery based in California and Germany. This 1-to-2-megawatthour pilot project will be one of the first to test this type of energy storage system on the U.S. electric grid, WEC Energy Group said. The CMBlu Organic SolidFlow energy storage system uses a proprietary flow battery technology with components from recyclable materials. The project will test the performance of the battery system, including discharge durations of five to 10 hours — up to twice as long as the typical lithium-ion batteries in use today. The pilot project is planned for testing in the fourth quarter of this year. Findings will be shared with the utility industry. EPRI will share a complete analysis of the project in early 2024.

The American Public Power Association’s Public Power Energy Tracker is a resource for association members that summarizes public power energy storage projects that are currently online.

Source: publicpower