Working with energy service company Johnson-Melloh Solutions, North Putnam School District in Bainbridge Indiana selected JLM Energy’s storage plus smart energy management technology to complement its 1.6 mW solar farm. The system also provides backup power in the case of an outage.
Johnson-Melloh integrated energy storage because the Transmission & Distribution (T&D) infrastructure at the school caps the amount of power that can be transmitted back to the grid. Now North Putnam relies on stored power during peak times to lower bills, while feeding excess energy back to Duke Energy’s grid at a constant rate over the course of the day.
This means that North Putnam Middle and High Schools will control energy costs for the next 25 years. And by introducing a non-debt financing service program that required no upfront capital, the community will not have the worries of a rising tax levy.
Bob McKinney, President of Johnson-Melloh said, “North Putman Schools will realize a future with millions of dollars in savings during the next 25 years. It’s another big win for Indiana schools, and the resources that will be made available as a result.”
JLM Energy, VP of Enterprise Sales, Nathan Newsom said, “Energy storage is the next frontier of renewable energy and it is a desirable solution for both school districts and utilities. Schools save money and utilities get more distributed energy resources online, including customers with a more consistent use rate over time.”
JLM Energy’s smart software, Measurz is the main configuration and monitoring interface for the solar plus energy storage system. It provides real-time control of energy use by optimizing performance and automatically determining when the solar power is needed by the building, when it should be sold back to the grid and when it should be stored in the batteries.
The Measurz interface makes it easy visualize building demand and energy use so students get a hands-on lesson in energy efficiency, budgeting and sustainability. They can monitor the software dashboard in real-time on kiosks located throughout the school.
Federal tax incentives for solar plus energy storage systems are currently available for up to 30% of the total cost.
News item from JLM Energy