According to foreign media reports, FlexGen, an American energy storage system integrator and control software vendor, has deployed a 40MW battery energy storage project for the power cooperative in North Carolina.
The battery energy storage system will be connected to Randolph Power Company's Five Points substation and officially launched by North Carolina Senator Dave Craven.
Although Randolph Electric Power Company did not disclose the scale of the battery energy storage system (including installed capacity and energy storage capacity), this project is one of 10 battery energy storage projects provided by FlexGen Company for North Carolina Electric Power Cooperative. The North Carolina Electric Power Cooperative is a non-profit public utility with 26 members, providing electricity to about 2.5 million people.
These battery energy storage projects started construction in January this year. Another battery energy storage system was installed near the power generation facilities of Randolph Power Company, and the remaining battery energy storage systems were deployed near the power generation facilities of other members of the North Carolina Electric Cooperative. These battery energy storage systems are deployed in rural areas with weak or far connections with the central power grid infrastructure.
These energy storage systems will improve the reliability of the power supply in a power grid and be used to store renewable energy power to manage the power grid load. This will reduce the carbon emission intensity of the North Carolina Electric Power Cooperative because the electricity during the peak period often comes from the natural gas power generation facilities on the grid, and it will also reduce the operating costs.
According to industry media reports. As these projects are being deployed, FlexGen's expertise will also be used to help integrate distributed energy sources (DER), such as electric vehicles (EVs), chargers, or intelligent thermostats.
FlexGen has an energy management system (EMS) and a software control platform called HybridOS, enabling the North Carolina Electric Power Cooperative to flexibly monitor and coordinate the distributed energy on its power grid.
Randolph Power Company's "Five Points" battery energy storage project is the first of its kind, which integrates an independently deployed battery energy storage system into the power grid of North Carolina. Joe Brannan, executive vice president and CEO of North Carolina Electric Power Cooperative, said that the battery energy storage system not only provides affordable electricity but also improves the reliability and flexibility of the grid.
These battery energy storage projects have added more clean energy power to the cooperative's existing investment portfolio, among which 14 solar energy+energy storage projects will be deployed, with the total installed capacity of solar power generation facilities of 23MW, the full energy storage capacity of battery energy storage system of 53MWh, and a few microgrids will be built.
Members of the cooperative will jointly pursue the goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2050. More than 60% of their power structure comes from clean energy, and only 5% depends on coal for power generation. More than 42 million people in the United States get electricity from the cooperative.
At the same time, according to the National Rural Electric Power Cooperative Association (NRECA) data, from 2010 to 2021, the installed capacity of cooperative renewable energy power generation facilities increased from 3.9GW to more than 13GW, which more than tripled.
In October this year, FlexGen signed a 10GWh battery energy storage supply agreement with China battery manufacturer Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited, which was broadcast live at the 2022 American International Solar Exhibition in California. Kelcy Pegler, CEO of FlexGen, said that signing this multi-year agreement would accelerate the deployment of energy storage in the United States.
