Sunny Central Storage 2500-EV-US on site at the NWTC
Photo Credit: Photo courtesy of RES
Renewable Energy Systems (RES) will use SMA technology for a 1-MW battery pilot project at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) National Wind Technology Center (NWTC), the nation’s premier wind energy technology research facility.
Using the RESolve energy storage system, the project will test various components of energy storage and educate the public on how energy storage can create a more stable, secure U.S. electric grid and accommodate increasing amounts of clean, renewable energy.
“We truly value the opportunity to work with RES on this project,” said Volker Wachenfeld, executive vice president of SMA’s Storage business unit. “Energy storage is essential to the future of solar and the electric grid as a whole, and this project will give the public and the industry a place to study and better understand how storage works.”
The test site utilizes a Sunny Central Storage unit, SMA’s power conversion system for large-scale battery storage systems. These systems enable the integration of large amounts of intermittent renewable energy into the utility grid while maintaining grid stability. The Sunny Central Storage is compatible with different types of battery technologies.
“RES is proud to work with SMA, a global leader in large-scale inverters, on this important demonstration project,” said Victor Babbitt, RES Global Head of Supply Chain, Energy Storage.
Upon completion, research staff will use various applications of the system to test certain modes ranging from frequency regulation to renewable energy integration.
The NWTC is located south of Boulder, Colo., and construction for the test system is estimated to be completed this month.
News item from SMA