E.ON Climate & Renewables North America today announced it signed an agreement with Tucson Electric Power (TEP) to provide frequency response and voltage control from a grid-scale, 10(MW) battery energy storage facility with a 2 MW solar array. The Iron Horse Battery Energy Storage Project will be located adjacent to the University of Arizona Science and Technology Park southeast of Tucson. The project is expected to be completed in the first half of 2017.
“E.ON, as a provider of global energy solutions, is proud of our ability to work with a utility like TEP to provide innovative grid reliability solutions benefiting their customers. Beyond providing grid-scale battery storage capabilities, E.ON has partnered with utilities to provide energy through PPAs and to complete quality turnkey solar facilities,” commented Steve Trenholm, President of E.ON Solar. In addition to supplementing TEP’s grid management, E.ON also provides energy to TEP from its 6.6 MW Tech Park Solar and 13.2 MW Valencia Solar facilities and partnered on the turnkey construction of TEP’s 17.2 MW solar facility at the Fort Huachuca Army Base near Sierra Vista, Arizona.
“We are excited to put E.ON’s own utility storage expertise to use for TEP,” said Mark Frigo, E.ON’s VP of Energy Storage North America. “TEP is the perfect partner for this project as they are an experienced utility operator and very interested in integrating innovative, cost-effective technologies for the benefit of their customers.”
“We’re working very hard to build a more resilient grid in a cost-effective way for our customers, and exploring energy storage technologies is an important aspect of our efforts. E.ON provides both innovative technologies and a wealth of expertise that will help us to achieve our long-term renewable energy and resource planning goals,” said Carmine Tilghman, a TEP Senior Director who oversees the company’s renewable energy programs.
E.ON, in partnership with Greensmith Energy, will design and integrate a customized energy storage solution for TEP that is capable of providing the benefits of a conventional generation system’s availability and response capabilities. The project will enhance TEP’s contribution to grid stability by providing ancillary services during the 10-year contract period.
“The system will be capable of responding faster than conventional generation to adjust to rapid changes in power demand,” said Frigo. “Our team engineered the right set of technologies to fulfill the customer’s vision of what they need to manage their system efficiently and effectively.”
E.ON developed, built and operates more than 3,000 megawatts of solar and wind renewable energy generation across the U.S. with more on the way. The Company also offers O&M and asset management services to third party owner/operators seeking “Service with an Owner’s Eye.”
The US Energy Storage Association (ESA) recently stated that “Energy storage systems create substantial economic benefit, both by allowing utilities to avoid and defer costly investments in infrastructure and capacity and by increasing the ability of utilities to host and integrate more distributed energy resources, such as rooftop solar. Storage provides vital backup power to customers and critical facilities during outages, and it helps utilities become more resilient. And when the grid is operational, storage gives households and businesses the unique flexibility to choose how and when they use electricity, allowing them to manage energy costs with greater certainty”. Furthermore, they add with urgency, “now is the time to invest in the growing energy storage industry…and make electricity more reliable, affordable, and clean”.
E.ON is an international privately-owned energy supplier and will in future be focusing entirely on energy networks, customer solutions, and renewables. In the 2015 financial year, more than 56,000 employees based in many countries in Europe as well as in North America generated sales of around EUR 116 billion. Around 33 million customers purchase gas and electricity from E.ON. Within the global renewables segment, E.ON is a leading company and continues to expand the share of renewable energy in E.ON’s power generation portfolio. The company has already invested more than €10bn and operates nearly 5.2GW of renewable capacity. E.ON is headquartered in Essen, Germany.
TEP provides safe, reliable electric service to approximately 417,000 customers in Southern Arizona. TEP and its parent company, UNS Energy, are subsidiaries of Fortis Inc., which owns utilities that serve more than 3 million customers across Canada and in the United States and the Caribbean.
As one of the largest providers of energy storage software and integration services, Greensmith’s mission is to make energy storage a fundamental part of a cleaner, more intelligent and distributed energy infrastructure. In 2014, Greensmith delivered over one-third of all energy storage capacity installed in the United States and in 2015, was selected as the fastest growing energy storage company by Inc 5000. Now in its fifth generation, Greensmith’s GEMS software platform optimizes the performance of energy storage. GEMS is currently used by more than 20 major customers globally.
