According to foreign media reports, the US Army began to deploy a megawatt flow battery energy storage project at Fort Carson, Colorado.
On November 3rd, the base held a launching ceremony for this project, which will deploy the 1MW/10MWh long-term battery energy storage system provided by Lockheed Martin, an American aerospace and defense industry company.
The project is called GridStar Flow. Since the company acquired Suncatalyst, a joint venture between the flow battery manufacturer and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in 2014, Lockheed Martin began to develop and deploy the flow battery energy storage project.
The first commercial scale version of this battery energy storage system was installed in the pilot energy storage system in Andover, Massachusetts in 2020. The company announced the deployment of its first pilot project in December 2021, which will deploy a 6.5 MW/52 MW battery energy storage system for a solar power farm in Alberta, Canada.
When Lockheed Martin announced the provision of the project, it said that the estimated construction time is 8 to 9 months.
This battery energy storage system will make Fort Carson base use less electricity from the grid during the peak demand period, so as to reduce the cost and ease the pressure of grid operation. In case of power grid interruption, this battery energy storage system will provide the base with a key backup power supply.
This is the largest long-term energy storage system (LDES) deployed in the U.S. military base. The battery energy storage system lasts for more than 6 hours, but the chemical composition of the flow battery is still kept secret.
Lockheed Martin did not disclose the electrolyte chemical composition of GridStar Flow flow battery, but provided some hints that it is richer and cheaper than the common materials in other flow batteries (the main types are usually vanadium or zinc-sodium bromide).
Roger Jenkins, the company's business development director, also said that the electrolyte composition is environmentally friendly, and the electrolyte of GridSta rFlow flow battery will not cause damage to the equipment.
Steve Botwinik, senior project vice president of Lockheed Martin, said at the launching ceremony of the project: "GridStar Flow flow flow battery energy storage system is a long-term energy storage system, which is composed of electrolytes made of common materials, and has durability, flexibility and competitive cost."
The Building Engineering Research Laboratory (CERL) of the U.S. Army Engineering Research and Development Center (ERDC) will manage the GridStar Flow flow flow battery energy storage system. The US Army Engineering Research and Development Center (ERDC) awarded Lockheed Martin this $17.5 million project contract.
