Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
A new $7 million wind energy storage project is underway in Pullman, a joint effort by Avista Utilities and the State of Washington Department of Commerce, in cooperation with Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL).
Five large battery storage units were lifted into place Dec. 30 in a parking lot of SEL in Pullman. Five more will be installed Jan. 22.
The batteries, which are housed in half-size ocean cargo containers, will store power during times of high wind and then distribute it when it is needed.
Ultimately, the large-scale energy storage system will aim to improve distribution of energy from wind farms.
“We have this opportunity to see if this is a viable option,” said Paul Kimmell, Regional Business Manager for Avista. “Everyone wants instant reliable power, that’s for sure. How do we reduce the intermittency of wind energy?”
The wind power in question for this battery project is generated by the First Wind turbines near Oakesdale. When wind blows, the energy generated moves onto electrical transmission lines, which then splinter to substations at a lower voltage, where the power goes into homes and businesses.
The power reaching the batteries at SEL will travel through a substation at Shawnee Road near Albion.
Because wind power is generated in inconsistent spurts, it requires another source of generation paired with it such as the hydroelectric power of Avista’s dams on the Spokane River. However, if there was a way to store energy generated by wind, then the source would not be as dependent on other generation.
“Truly the Holy Grail with intermittent energy is ‘Is there a way to store it?” said Kimmell. “And then how do you incorporate that into a power grid system?”
Power from the SEL battery storage will be available within 50 milliseconds of its generation, as opposed to the 10 to 15 minutes required to engage a natural gas combustion turbine.
Another benefit of the batteries, Kimmell suggests, is reliability.
For manufacturing customers like SEL, use of the new battery storage during a power outage can provide continuous power.
According to Dave Whitehead, SEL Vice President of Research and Development, the batteries would be able to power two-thirds of SEL’s manufacturing building for three hours. The project will also use SEL equipment (SEL-451) to detect when to use power from the grid or to use power from the battery.
The Energy Storage Project is funded by a $3.8 million investment from Avista as well as a $3.2 million grant from the Washington State Department of Commerce’s Clean Energy Fund.
Made by UniEnergy Technologies of Mulkiteo, the batteries being used were developed from Pacific Northwest National Laboratories (PNNL) technology, which use chemical charging, rather than chemical reaction.
Kimmell indicated that the project was set on the SEL campus in order to provide a “real-world” setting to conduct several “use case” scenario tests. These refer to a basic scenario in which power goes out, interrupting SEL’s manufacturing process, and how effectively switching to the battery source would maintain necessary voltage levels.
The system is expected to begin operating this spring.
Once in action, various different use cases will be tested over an 18-month period. Throughout the test period, Avista and PNNL will gather and analyze data, and produce a final report for the Department of Commerce.
If deemed a success, other similar projects may go into operation.
“We’ll have to look at scaling this to larger projects, making sure the economics make sense,” said Kimmell.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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