AES plans to bring an additional 40 MW of advanced energy storage resources to PJM Interconnection, which controls the power grid for 60 million people in the Northeast and Midwest regions of the United States. To be located at Dayton Power and Light’s (DP&L) Tait generating station, just south of Dayton, Ohio, the AES battery array will provide frequency regulation service to the PJM market and bring new energy technology to Ohio that is safe, reliable, does not bear direct emissions and does not require water. This facility is the first of its kind in the state.
This announcement comes on the heels of AES’ recent 400,000 megawatt-hours (MW-h) service milestone within PJM at its Laurel Mountain facility. When the Tait storage array comes online, which is expected to occur in September 2013, it will bring the company’s storage resources in PJM to more than 100 MW, all operating on AES’ patented control system, sOS. This will be the third project within PJM to run on the software and the fifth overall. The PJM-specific module of sOS employs AES market expertise and PJM-specific operating experience to most efficiently control the array within the market’s unique dispatch model. This extensible AES sOS platform has been proven in multiple commercial settings and with multiple underlying battery technologies.
“Having served within PJM for many years, we are pleased to expand AES’ standing in the market with energy storage assets across West Virginia, Pennsylvania and now Ohio,” said Phil Herrington, President and CEO, DP&L. “We look forward to working with the city of Moraine on this project as part of the expertise that AES is bringing to the community and continuing to deliver safe, reliable and sustainable energy solutions that utilize energy storage to better serve PJM and other key markets.”
For Ohio, the Tait project brings a multi-million dollar investment in a cutting-edge technology that can displace power generation from inefficient or retiring plants, reduce overall system emissions, and create construction jobs and tax revenue in the Dayton region.
With this storage array in particular, AES is leveraging the mobility and scalability inherent in battery-based grid resources to quickly deploy resources that rapidly meet the needs of any given market. The 40 MW storage resource will consist of 24 MW from AES inventory with the remaining 16 MW coming from an existing AES facility, which the company is relocating to Ohio.
The DP&L Tait station’s generating turbines, operated by DP&L and DPL Energy, LLC, are used during times of peak electricity demand in the summer. The new project will connect through the station but will have an independent agreement with PJM. Unlike conventional resources, the Tait battery facility does not require water to operate and will not produce direct emissions.
The new array will bring AES’ total energy storage fleet to 174 MW of power plant equivalent flexibility resource, serving customers in the United States and South America.
