July 25, 2016 | By April Nowicki

A grid-scale, 10 MW battery energy storage facility with a 2 MW solar generation farm is in the works near Tucson, Arizona.

The climate and renewable energy arm of Germany-based energy company E.ON has partnered with Tucson Electric Power (TEP) solar-plus-storage energy facility, named the Iron Horse Battery Energy Storage Project. E.ON will provide frequency response and voltage control for the project, which is expected to be completed in the first half of 2017.

"We're working very hard to build a more resilient grid in a cost-effective way for our customers, and exploring energy storage technologies is an important aspect of our efforts," said Carmine Tilghman, a TEP senior director who oversees the company's renewable energy programs. "E.ON provides both innovative technologies and a wealth of expertise that will help us to achieve our long-term renewable energy and resource planning goals."

For the Iron Horse facility, E.ON will work with energy storage software and integration provider Greensmith Energy to design and integrate technology that is capable of providing the benefits of a conventional generation system's availability and response capabilities. The project will enhance TEP's contribution to grid stability by providing ancillary services during the 10-year contract period. 

"The system will be capable of responding faster than conventional generation to adjust to rapid changes in power demand," said Mark Frigo, E.ON's VP of Energy Storage in North America. "Our team engineered the right set of technologies to fulfill the customer's vision of what they need to manage their system efficiently and effectively."

E.ON also provides energy to TEP from multiple other solar facilities producing nearly 20 MW of power. E.ON previously partnered with TEP on the turnkey construction of a 17.2 MW solar facility at the Fort Huachuca Army Base near Sierra Vista, Arizona.

Con Edison in New York is also working on utility-scale energy storage in a partnership with SunPower announced last month to offer the largest residential distributed energy storage program in the United States. The pilot program, which plans to integrate more than 1.8 MW of solar and 1.8 MW of battery storage, will offer customers solar plus battery storage, creating a virtual power plant to provide back-up power in an emergency, as well as supplementing grid resiliency.

For more:
- read the announcement

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