Plus Power’s Post

We are thrilled to share a beautiful new video, produced with our partners at Tesla Energy, telling the backstory of our groundbreaking Kapolei Energy Storage (KES) facility on Oahu.  KES is helping to replace Hawaii’s last coal plant and accelerate the integration of solar and wind power, making it a key component in the state’s strategy to reach 100% clean energy by 2045.  But what makes KES truly innovative? It's the first use of a single standalone battery storage facility to operate on a millisecond basis—and at scale—as a grid-forming asset for an entire grid. Online since December 2023, these services already have a proven track record, supporting power reliability as the state transitions away from coal and oil: https://lnkd.in/eFD-PDg3 We are proud to note that, for all the reasons above, our KES facility is a finalist for the 2024 Platts Global Energy Awards in the Infrastructure Project of the Year category! Winners will be announced in December, so stay tuned. Watch the video to learn more about KES, including how the project gained widespread support from the community.  Thank you Tesla Energy, Hawaiian Electric, Anthony Makana Paris and the Makakilo / Kapolei / Honokai Hale Neighborhood Board 34, Hawaii State Energy Office, Ulupono Initiative, and more for being part of KES's story and helping us tell it in this video.    #batterystorage #energystorage #PlattsGEA

Standalone battery storage systems are providing the grid-forming types of ancillary services that conventional resources have historically performed—but faster and without emissions or need of water.      Since December, our Kapolei Energy Storage (KES) facility in Hawaii has been operating to support the HECO grid in this way. Here are two examples.      On February 9, 2024, the Oahu grid needed additional support. A turbine generator had tripped around 11 a.m., causing a sag in frequency to nearly 59.4 Hz, a very low level that can quickly lead to increasing grid failure if unaddressed. Hawaiian Electric dispatched KES as a backup. KES responded within 250 milliseconds—a blink of an eye—with 50 MW of power, delivering a grid-forming Fast Frequency Response signal for a half hour and bringing frequency safely back up above 60 Hz.      In another instance, around 1 a.m. on July 31, a 208 MW power plant went offline on Oahu, dropping the grid frequency again to approximately 59.4 Hz. As directed by Hawaiian Electric, KES responded within milliseconds with the Fast Frequency Response signal. Before sunrise, KES injected another 200 MWh of energy into the grid until solar generation came online. Later in the evening, KES responded again, providing over 300 MWh for four hours after the sun set and solar generation dropped. With the help of KES, the utility was able to avoid rolling blackouts.      As Hawaiian Electric recently wrote, “New technologies are critical to a secure system. We must remain flexible and adaptable as new technologies develop, particularly those that use less land and are not weather dependent...Transient stability studies in millisecond timescales are the new gold standard in high-renewable systems, and are an important part of long-term grid planning. New grid-forming capability can assist in stabilizing the system in place of conventional fossil fuel generation that traditionally provided physical rotating mass of inertia.”    We’re proud that KES, using Tesla Energy Megapack systems, is the world’s first example of standalone batteries performing this grid-forming service at scale. Hawaii has much to teach the U.S. mainland, and the world, about how to decarbonize while maintaining grid reliability. Read more in Hawaiian Electric's blog post, quoted above: https://lnkd.in/eg5ac2nw. #batterystorage #energystorage

Hats off to Aaron Schwartz and Sarah Toth, PhD at RMI for their new blog that documents how #batterystorage can support grid reliability. The piece discusses battery storage’s success providing energy, capacity, and the same grid services as gas plants (but far faster and without emissions or water), with recommendations for grid operators and policymakers on how to capture these benefits. Among many great examples, it shows how facilities like our Gambit #EnergyStorage helped ERCOT to avoid rolling blackouts on September 6, 2023. It also points to our Kapolei Energy Storage facility in Oahu, Hawaii for its landmark role in fast frequency response and virtual inertia from a standalone storage facility at scale. The piece is also a wonderful compendium of links to recent research on many of their points. Check it out-- https://lnkd.in/gJFbifCN

Thank you, Energy Safety Response Group, for another successful safety training! We regularly partner with ESRG’s battery safety experts to educate local first responders about our battery storage systems. Recently in Arizona, we hosted fire departments from Avondale, Mesa, Chandler, and Gilbert to finalize the Emergency Response Plans for our Sierra Estrella Energy Storage and Superstition Energy Storage facilities. We are grateful to our local firefighters and partners like ESRG that share our deep commitment to safety and community relations. #batterystorage #energystorage

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We had a fantastic time at Monday's ribbon-cutting for Sierra Estrella Energy Storage and Superstition Energy Storage, Plus Power’s flagship #batteryenergystorage projects in #Arizona serving Salt River Project. These new resources will support energy reliability, help meet growing summer peak demand, and integrate renewable energy into SRP’s system, all while creating local jobs and tax benefits for the towns of Avondale and Gilbert, Arizona.     The event included remarks from Plus Power President Alex Fraenkel, Salt River Project Vice President Chris Dobson, Mayor of City of Avondale, AZ Mr. Kenn Weise, and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Mr. Jeff Marootian.      Thank you to those speakers and to everyone else who braved the heat to celebrate with us, including our partners at SRP, Burns & McDonnell, Tesla, and many more.     Learn more about Sierra Estrella and Superstition and how they’ll support the SRP power system: https://lnkd.in/dcbCBdPJ.

Today, along with Salt River Project, we were thrilled to celebrate Plus Power’s new energy reliability resources in the Greater Phoenix area: Sierra Estrella Energy Storage in Avondale and Superstition Energy Storage in Gilbert.    Combined, Sierra Estrella and Superstition are adding 340 MW / 1,360 MWh of #batterystorage capacity to SRP’s system, enough to power 76,000 residential homes for a four-hour period. The facilities will serve SRP customers during times of peak electricity demand, supporting power reliability during another hot #Arizona summer. They will also facilitate the continued integration of readily available, domestically produced #renewableenergy sources in the sunny southwestern United States.     We were grateful to gather this morning for a ribbon cutting with landowners, construction and finance partners, Avondale and Gilbert leaders, state and federal representatives, and others who helped bring these projects to the finish line. Stay tuned for more photos from the event!     Read more about the projects and how they’ll support the SRP power system: https://lnkd.in/dcbCBdPJ

We are proud to announce the close of financing for the first major standalone battery storage project in ISO-NE. Plus Power has closed construction and term financing for our Cranberry Point Energy Storage facility in Carver, Massachusetts. It is also the first major financing of a utility-scale project that will benefit from Clean Peak Energy Certificates (CPECs) in Massachusetts. First Citizens Bank and NORD/LB acted as coordinating lead arrangers while Investec and Siemens Financial Services acted as joint lead arrangers. Investec is the administrative agent and U.S. Bank is the depositary bank. Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP acted as transaction counsel for Plus Power and Winston & Strawn LLP acted as transaction counsel for the lenders. The $133 million financing includes a construction-to-term loan, bridge loan and letter of credit facility. The 150 MW / 300 MWh Cranberry Point Energy Storage facility was among the first few standalone batteries ever to clear the Forward Capacity Auction in 2021 with the Independent System Operator of New England, or ISO-NE, along with Plus Power’s 175 MW / 350 MWh Cross Town Energy Storage facility in Gorham, Maine. Cranberry Point and Cross Town are the largest battery energy storage projects in construction in the region with planned operations in New England and will be online during Summer 2025. Thank you to our finance partners for helping us to accelerate standalone battery energy storage deployment into new markets. Our capital partners continue to recognize the unique capabilities of standalone storage facilities and Plus Power's leadership in developing and operating them. #cleantechfinance #cleanenergy #bess https://lnkd.in/e2q2CNrx