Diversified energy company Duke Energy Corporation DUK will upgrade its 36-megawatt (MW) energy storage and power management system at Notrees Windpower Project in west Texas. This unit is presently storing energy in lead acid batteries. The company has plans to replace these batteries with lithium-ion batteries over the course of 2016. Samsung SDI and Younicos will help Duke Energy in the upgrade process.
The Notrees Energy Storage Project is helping Duke Energy to meet its partnership obligation with ERCOT (Energy Reliability Council of Texas) and the Department of Energy. Thanks to the energy storage system, Duke Energy could maintain the frequency in ERCOT grid, by either dispatching stored energy to increase frequency or by absorbing energy to decrease frequency as per ERCOT’s requirement.
Samsung SDI will act as the primary engineering, procurement and construction manager and will provide its high-performing lithium-ion batteries and associated Battery Management System (BMS). Younicos will provide its energy storage management system, which will work in concert with the Samsung SDI software and batteries. The new lithium-ion batteries will increase the efficiency of Duke’s Energy storage system and lower its cost of operation.
Since the wind will blow and the sun will shine at their own whims, electricity generation from renewable units cannot be constant. This is where the importance of energy storage system comes in ensuring a continuous supply of electricity to the grid.
Duke Energy’s decision to utilize lithium-ion technology in its storage system will help it to rapidly store or release energy, with the energy storage system responding quickly to regulate frequency and provide additional services for grid management.
Duke Energy currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the same space are Consolidated Edison ED, DTE Energy Company DTE and NiSource Inc. NI, all three having a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
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