From ReCharge, January 12:
Project claimed as ‘postcard from the future’ as to how battery storage will soon replace fossil fuels in balancing grids
Hawaii has turned on a Tesla battery claimed to be the “most advanced” of its kind in the world to help replace its last coal power plant and bring more wind and solar power online.
The 185MW/565MWh Kapolei Energy Storage (KES) project, made up of 158 Tesla Megapack batteries, each roughly the size of a shipping container, came online last month.
“This is a landmark milestone in the transition to clean energy,” said Brandon Keefe, executive chairman of the project’s US developer Plus Power.
“It’s the first time a battery has been used by a major utility to balance the grid: providing fast frequency response, synthetic inertia, and black start.”
“This project is a postcard from the future – batteries will soon be providing these services, at scale, on the mainland.”
Hawaii is aiming to transition to 100% renewables by 2045, with green power having provided a third of its energy mix in 2022.
That same year, it switched off its last coal-fired power plant, taking 180MW of generating capacity out of the equation on Hawaii’s largest island, Oahu.
Utility Hawaiian Electric says the KES project will help replace that capacity with renewables that were previously being curtailed to help balance the grid....
....MUCH MORE
If interested Power Engineering, January 11, has some technical details including this tidbit:
...The KES battery project, located on eight acres of industrial land on the southwest side of Oahu near Honolulu, uses 158 Tesla Megapack 2 XL lithium-ion iron phosphate batteries, each roughly the size of a shipping container. It can offer the grid 185 MW of total capacity and 565 MWh of electricity, acting as an electrical “shock absorber” often served by combustion-powered peaker plants — responding in the blink of an eye (250 milliseconds), rather than the several minutes it takes combustion plants to come online....
